Exposure to the Chinese famine in early life and hypertension prevalence risk in adults

Objectives: Famine exposure in early life has been reported to be associated with higher risk of hypertension prevalence in adults. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association of exposure to the Chinese famine during early life with the risk of hypertension prevalence in adults. Methods: There were 8742 participants born between 1952 and 1964 derived from the Dongfeng–Tongji cohort included in the present study. Participants were classified as nonexposed group, fetal exposed group, early-childhood exposed group, mid-childhood exposed group, and late-childhood exposed group, respectively. Logistic regression model was used to explore the association between famine exposure in early life and risk of hypertension prevalence in adults. Results: The prevalence of hypertension among individuals in nonexposed group, fetal exposed group, early-childhood exposed group, mid-childhood exposed group, and late-childhood exposed group were 34.0, 38.0, 43.9, 47.4, and 54.4%, respectively. Compared with nonexposed group, participants exposed to the famine in the fetal [1.24, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.01–1.51], early childhood (1.44, 95% CI: 1.20–1.73), mid-childhood (1.67, 95% CI: 1.38–2.02), and late childhood (2.11, 95% CI: 1.75–2.55) had higher risk of hypertension prevalence in adults after adjustment for potential confounders (P for trend <0.0001). Adjustment for age did not materially change the results. Conclusion: Results in the present study indicated that exposure to the famine in early life increases the risk of hypertension prevalence in adulthood.

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