SynthesisBMJ global health2021
Severe malnutrition or famine exposure in childhood and cardiometabolic non-communicable disease later in life: a systematic review.
Synthesis in BMJ global health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 97 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
97 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 173 citations in OpenAlex.
- Guideline
- Early-Life Exposure to the Chinese Famine of 1959-1961 and Type 2 Diabetes in Adulthood: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2022Pooled it
- Neurodevelopmental, cognitive, behavioural and mental health impairments following childhood malnutrition: a systematic review.BMJ global health · 2022Pooled it
- Systematic review to evaluate a potential association between helminth infection and physical stunting in children.Parasites & vectors · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Salivary Microbiome Differences in Stunted and Healthy Children: A Metagenomic Analysis.European journal of dentistry · 2026Article
- The Triple Burden of Malnutrition among Children and Adolescents in Indonesia during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Narrative Review.Current developments in nutrition · 2026Review
- Improving Precision Diagnosis and Treatment of Diabetes in Low-Resource Settings in Africa Through Structured Clinical Phenotyping: A Narrative Review.Diabetes therapy : research, treatment and education of diabetes and related disorders · 2026Review
- Tailoring interventions to close gaps in diabetes mellitus care.Nature reviews. Endocrinology · 2026Review
- Prenatal and postnatal household air pollution and longitudinal growth trajectories: results from long-term follow up of the GRAPHS cohort.Environment international · 2026Article
- Atypical diabetes subtypes in Black African populations.Diabetologia · 2026Review
- Beyond malaria prevention: sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine treatment in pregnancy selectively remodels the maternal gut microbiome to increase gestational weight gain and improve birthweight.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Preserved Ratio Impaired Spirometry in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: An Emerging Cardiopulmonary Phenotype and Cardiovascular Risk-A Narrative Review.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- The Epidemiology of the Global Syndemic in Africa: New Evidence and Key Insights.Current obesity reports · 2026Review
- Longitudinal association between early-life famine exposure and risk of microvascular complications of type 2 diabetes in adulthood: A retrospective cohort in Tianjin, China.Asia Pacific journal of clinical nutrition · 2026Article
- Spatial distribution and predictors of stunting, wasting, and underweight among under-five children in Bangladesh.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Two Sides of a Coin: Molecular, metabolic, and Phenotypic Convergence in Pediatric Undernutrition and Obesity.Current obesity reports · 2026Review
- From Insult to Injury: Exploring the Associations Between Severe Malnutrition in Childhood, Rehabilitation Weight Gain and Adult Adiposity in a Prospective Cohort Study.Maternal & child nutrition · 2026Article
- Forty years later: adult health and non-communicable disease following the 1984-1985 Great Ethiopian Famine - a retrospective cohort study.BMJ global health · 2026Article
- Postmalnutrition weight gain is associated with changes to muscle and energy metabolism in adolescence: a cohort analysis.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2026Article
37 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
9 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
introductionChild malnutrition (undernutrition) and adult non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are major global public health problems. While convincing evidence links prenatal malnutrition with increased risk of NCDs, less is known about the long-term sequelae of malnutrition in childhood. We therefore examined evidence of associations between postnatal malnutrition, encompassing documented severe childhood malnutrition in low/middle-income countries (LMICs) or famine exposure, and later-life cardiometabolic NCDs.
methodsOur peer-reviewed search strategy focused on 'severe childhood malnutrition', 'LMICs', 'famine', and 'cardiometabolic NCDs' to identify studies in Medline, Embase, Global Health, and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) databases. We synthesised results narratively and assessed study quality with the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence checklist.
resultsWe identified 57 studies of cardiometabolic NCD outcomes in survivors of documented severe childhood malnutrition in LMICs (n=14) and historical famines (n=43). Exposure to severe malnutrition or famine in childhood was consistently associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease (7/8 studies), hypertension (8/11), impaired glucose metabolism (15/24) and metabolic syndrome (6/6) in later life. Evidence for effects on lipid metabolism (6/11 null, 5/11 mixed findings), obesity (3/13 null, 5/13 increased risk, 5/13 decreased risk) and other outcomes was less consistent. Sex-specific differences were observed in some cohorts, with women consistently at higher risk of glucose metabolism disorders and metabolic syndrome.
conclusionSevere malnutrition or famine during childhood is associated with increased risk of cardiometabolic NCDs, suggesting that developmental plasticity extends beyond prenatal life. Severe malnutrition in childhood thus has serious implications not only for acute morbidity and mortality but also for survivors' long-term health. Heterogeneity across studies, confounding by prenatal malnutrition, and age effects in famine studies preclude firm conclusions on causality. Research to improve understanding of mechanisms linking postnatal malnutrition and NCDs is needed to inform policy and programming to improve the lifelong health of severe malnutrition survivors.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.