Early Life Exposure to Chinese Famine and the Risk of Cognitive Decline (P14-027-19)

Abstract

ObjectivesPrevious studies on Chinese famine suggested long-term effects of early life famine exposure on health conditions. This study aims to investigate the association between the exposure to 1959–61 Chinese famine at different early life stages and the risk of cognitive decline in adulthood. MethodsA total of 6417 adults born between 1952 and 1964 in the 2015 survey data of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study were included in this study. Cognitive performance was estimated through a series of comprehensive neuropsychological tests, including the Telephone Interview of Cognitive Status (TICS-10), word recall, and pentagon drawing. Multiple generalized linear model (GLM) was employed to detect the association between multi-stage early life famine exposure and late life cognitive performance. ResultsCompared with the unexposed group, respondents exposed to famine in fetal period performed worse in TICS [difference −0.54 95% confidence interval (CI) −0.95 to −0.13, P = 0.009], word recall (difference −0.93 95% CI −1.47 to −0.39, P = 0.001), and general cognition (difference −1.46 95% CI −2.21 to −0.71, P < 0.001). Furthermore, we also found negative effects of famine exposure on performance of word recall and pentagon drawing in the early (word recall difference −1.09 95% CI −1.97 to −0.20, P = 0.016; pentagon drawing difference 0.77 95% CI 0.14 to 1.40, P = 0.017), mid (word recall difference −0.95 95% CI −1.65 to −0.26, P = 0.007; pentagon drawing difference 0.70 95% CI 0.20 to 1.20, P = 0.006) and late (word recall difference 0.61 95% CI −1.11 to −0.11, P = 0.017; pentagon drawing difference 0.76 95% CI 0.38 to 1.13, P < 0.001) childhood exposed groups. Therefore, both fetal and childhood malnutrition had a long-term negative effect on respondent鈥檚 cognitive performance. ConclusionsEarly life famine exposure in different stages is positively associated with late life cognitive decline. Fetal famine exposure might affect the overall cognitive status in adulthood, and childhood famine exposure has potential adverse effects on visuospatial episodic memory. Funding SourcesNo funding. Supporting Tables, Images and/or Graphs▪▪▪▪