ArticleInternational journal of epidemiology2015
Early gestation as the critical time-window for changes in the prenatal environment to affect the adult human blood methylome.
Article in International journal of epidemiology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 78 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
78 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 175 citations in OpenAlex.
- The one-carbon metabolism as an underlying pathway for placental DNA methylation - a systematic review.Epigenetics · 2024Pooled it
- The association between prenatal famine, DNA methylation and mental disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Clinical epigenetics · 2023Pooled it
- Meta-analysis of epigenome-wide association studies in neonates reveals widespread differential DNA methylation associated with birthweight.Nature communications · 2019Pooled it
- Associations between body size, nutrition and socioeconomic position in early life and the epigenome: A systematic review.PloS one · 2018Pooled it
- An epigenome-wide association meta-analysis of prenatal maternal stress in neonates: A model approach for replication.Epigenetics · 2016Pooled it
- Trial
- Exploring the effect of antenatal depression treatment on children's epigenetic profiles: findings from a pilot randomized controlled trial.Clinical epigenetics · 2019Trial
- Prenatal famine exposure restricts genetic effects on birth weight with implications for metabolic disease risk.Communications medicine · 2026Article
- Sphingolipids in human disease: organ-specific pathologies, chain-length-dependent effects, and translational implications.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Review
- Burden of Vitamin D Deficiency in Female Patients in Different Stages of Life: a Retrospective Study.Maedica · 2026Article
- The Nodding syndrome cerebrospinal fluid proteome: a lens into neurodevelopmental failure consistent with environmentally triggeredFrontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2026Article
- Effects of alcohol on the transcriptome, methylome and metabolome of in vitro gastrulating human embryonic cells.Disease models & mechanisms · 2025Article
- Ramadan During Pregnancy and Offspring Age at Menarche in Indonesia: A Quasi-Experimental Study.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Rethinking Depression-Beyond Neurotransmitters: An Integrated Psychoneuroendocrineimmunology Framework for Depression's Pathophysiology and Tailored Treatment.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- The impact of healthcare provision on immigrant pregnancy behaviors: the case of Ramadan fasting in Germany.Journal of migration and health · 2025Article
- Linking the gut microbiome to host DNA methylation by a discovery and replication epigenome-wide association study.BMC genomics · 2024Article
- Genetic analysis of selection bias in a natural experiment: Investigating in-utero famine effects on elevated body mass index in the Dutch Hunger Winter Families Study.American journal of epidemiology · 2024Article
- Accelerated biological aging six decades after prenatal famine exposure.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Associations between use of chemical hair products and epigenetic age: Findings from the Sister Study.Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2024Article
- Epigenetics of prenatal stress in humans: the current research landscape.Clinical epigenetics · 2024Review
18 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe manipulation of pregnancy diets in animals can lead to changes in DNA methylation with phenotypic consequences in the offspring. Human studies have concentrated on the effects of nutrition during early gestation. Lacking in humans is an epigenome-wide association study of DNA methylation in relation to perturbations in nutrition across all gestation periods.
methodsWe used the quasi-experimental setting of the Dutch famine of 1944-45 to evaluate the impact of famine exposure during specific 10-week gestation periods, or during any time in gestation, on genome-wide DNA methylation levels at age ∼ 59 years. In addition, we evaluated the impact of exposure during a shorter pre- and post-conception period. DNA methylation was assessed using the Illumina 450k array in whole blood among 422 individuals with prenatal famine exposure and 463 time- or sibling-controls without prenatal famine exposure.
resultsFamine exposure during gestation weeks 1-10, but not weeks 11-20, 21-30 or 31-delivery, was associated with an increase in DNA methylation of CpG dinucleotides cg20823026 (FAM150B), cg10354880 (SLC38A2) and cg27370573 (PPAP2C) and a decrease of cg11496778 (OSBPL5/MRGPRG) (P < 5.9 × 10(-7), PFDR < 0.031). There was an increase in methylation of TACC1 and ZNF385A after exposure during any time in gestation (P < 2.0 × 10(-7), PFDR = 0.034) and a decrease of cg23989336 (TMEM105) after exposure around conception. These changes represent a shift of 0.3-0.6 standard deviations and are linked to genes involved in growth, development and metabolism.
conclusionEarly gestation, and not mid or late gestation, is identified as a critical time-period for adult DNA methylation changes in whole blood after prenatal exposure to famine.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.