Fetal Exposure to the Great Chinese Famine May Cause Hyperlipidemia in Adulthood

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases are increasing rapidly in China, yet there are limited population‐based data on risk factors. To examine the long‐term impacts of fetal exposure to the great Chinese famine in 1959 – 1961, we analyzed levels and patterns of blood cholesterol and other lipids by using the China Health and Nutrition Survey data for 8,639 adults aged 18 years old and older who donated blood samples in 2009. We measured all biomarkers with Hitachi 7600 clinical chemical autoanalyzer and used general linear regression models to analyze the association between fetal exposure to the great famine and lipids level and patterns. We selected as our exposure adults who were born during the peak of great famine from January 1st, 1959 to December 31st, 1961 and would have been in utero during the famine period. Adjusted for age, gender, education, income, and other social‐environment variables, participants who were born during the great famine had elevated total cholesterol (197.7 vs. 188.7 mg/dL, p<0.001), elevated triglycerides (163.2 vs. 151.7 mg/dL, p=0.06), elevated high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (57.0 vs. 55.0 mg/dL, p<0.05), and elevated low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (123.2 vs. 115.7 mg/dL, p<0.001). The elevated levels and patterns of blood lipids suggest that fetal exposure to the great Chinese famine is a risk of the increasing cardiovascular diseases in China. This exposure affects approximate 53 million Chinese adults today.This study was supported by the NIH (R01‐HD30880) and the Fogarty International Center, NIH (5D43TW007709).