ArticleBMJ open2019
Association between early-life exposure to the Great Chinese Famine and poor physical function later in life: a cross-sectional study.
Article in BMJ open, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Severe maternal undernutrition during pregnancy and its long-term effects on the offspring health, with a focus on kidney health.Pediatric nephrology (Berlin, Germany) · 2025Review
- Unveiling the long-term impact: exploring the link between exposure to the great Chinese famine and health-related quality of life in middle-aged and elderly populations through propensity score matching.BMC public health · 2025Article
- From starvation to depression: unveiling the link between the great famine and late-life depression.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Early-life undernutrition in the great Chinese famine and the risk of early natural menopause: a retrospective cohort study in Western China.Frontiers in nutrition · 2024Article
- Trends and Projection of the Incidence of Active Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Southwestern China: Age-Period-Cohort Analysis.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2023Article
- Maternal upbringing and selective breeding for voluntary exercise behavior modify patterns of DNA methylation and expression of genes in the mouse brain.Genes, brain, and behavior · 2023Article
- Separate and combined effects of famine exposure and menarche age on metabolic syndrome among the elderly: a cross-sectional study in China.BMC women's health · 2023Article
- Functional Limitations and Psychological Well-Being Among Older Adults in China: The Critical Role ofInternational journal of aging & human development · 2023Article
- Article
- Childhood socioeconomic status and adulthood dietary diversity among Indonesian adults.Frontiers in nutrition · 2022Article
- Association of Parental Famine Exposure With Offspring Depression and Cognition Function.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Life-course risk factors are associated with activity of daily living disability in older adults.European journal of public health · 2021Article
- Factors Associated With Positive Self-Rated Health: Comparing Older Adults in Brazil and in Portugal.Frontiers in public health · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesThis study aimed to evaluate the association between early-life exposure to the Great Chinese Famine (1959-1961) and the prevalence of poor physical function in midlife.
designA population-based historical prospective study was performed as part of a wider cross-sectional survey. Exposure to famine was defined by birthdate, and participants were divided into non-exposed group, fetal-exposed group and infant-exposed group. SETTING AND
participantsA total of 3595 subjects were enrolled into the study from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) 2015 based on random selection of households that had at least one member aged 45 years old and older in 28 provinces of mainland China.
main outcome measuresPhysical function status was assessed by a six-item self-report on the Barthel scale which rated basic activities of daily living (BADL).
results743 (20.7%) out of all participants were exposed to the Great Chinese Famine in their fetal periods, while 1550 (43.1%) participants were exposed at the age of an infant. The prevalence of poor physical function in the non-exposed group, fetal period-exposed group and infant period-exposed group were 12.3%, 15.5% and 17.0%, respectively. Among males, after stratification by gender and severity of famine, the prevalence of poor physical function in the fetal period was significantly higher (OR 2.40, 95% CI 1.18 to 4.89, p=0.015) than the non-exposed group in severely affected areas, even after adjusting for the number of chronic diseases, place of residence, smoking and alcohol drinking habits, marital status, educational level and body mass index. A similar connection between prenatal and early postnatal exposure to the Great Chinese Famine and the prevalence of poor physical function in midlife, however, was not observed from female adults.
conclusionsMales who were exposed to the Great Chinese Famine (1959-1961) present considerably decreased physical function in their later life.
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