Early life exposure to the Chinese Famine of 1959-1961 is an independent risk factor of adulthood elevated homocysteine, hyperuricemia, high LDL, and hypertension.

Abstract

Famine exposure in early life was associated with cardiovascular diseases in later life. Whether biochemical surrogates of cardiovascular diseases, such as homocysteine and uric acid, are also associated with famine exposure is unknown so far. Data were derived from a population-based cross-sectional study in the Hunan Province of China, which was heavily affected by the Famine in 1959-1961. A total of 1,150 adults born between 1952and1964 were selected, and 5 cohorts were defined: no exposure, fetal, early childhood, mid-childhood, and late childhood exposure. Compared with the no-famine exposure group, participants exposed to famine in their fetal period had a higher risk of high homocysteine in adulthood with OR of 2.21 (95% CI: 1.01-4.83), whereas famine exposures in early, mid, or late childhood were not significantly associated with high homocysteine in adulthood. Similarly, participants in the fetal famine exposure group had a 1.59-fold higher risk of hyperuricemia (OR = 2.59, 95% CI: 1.07-5.30) and a 2.03-fold higher risk of high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) (OR = 0.03, 95% CI: 1.35-6.78) in adulthood compared to those without famine exposure, respectively. We furthermore conducted a meta-analysis including 16 studies regarding the association between fetal famine exposure and adulthood hypertension, including our study. The meta-analysis, including 34,804, subjects showed that fetal famine exposure is associated with a higher risk of adulthood hypertension (OR=1.22, 95% CI: 1.07-1.40). Taken together, fetal famine exposure is related to higher odds of cardio-metabolic risk factors, such as high homocysteine, hyperuricemia, and LDL as well as hypertension, suggesting that undernutrition during fetal life may affect metabolism of homocysteine, uric acid, and LDL in adulthood.