image: : Risk of non-communicable diseases 50 years later among individuals exposed to the Chinese Famine of 1959-1961 at different life stage. The x-axis indicates the life stage when an individual was exposed to famine. The y-axis indicates the risk of non-communicable diseases, where 1 means average risk, >1 means increased risk, and <1 means below-average risk. The figure shows a consistent pattern in risk of non-communicable diseases in relation to life stage at famine exposure. Individuals exposed to famine in utero and first 1,000 days (0–2 years) had doubled the risk of non-communicable diseases, followed by individuals exposed in pre-school (3–5 years) and primary school (6–9 years) who had a 50% higher risk of non-communicable diseases, and individuals exposed in adolescence (10–18 years) who had an 8% higher risk of non-communicable diseases in later life. view more
Credit: Cheng et al., 2023, PLOS Global Public Health, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Children and adolescents of the 1959-61 Chinese famine: Survivors face increased risk of non-communicable diseases 50 years later, with those exposed in utero or under age 2 at double the risk.
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Article URL: https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0002161
Article Title: Exposure to the 1959–1961 Chinese famine and risk of non-communicable diseases in later life: A life course perspective
Author Countries: Switzerland, UK
Funding: Mengling Cheng acknowledges funding from the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research “LIVES - Overcoming vulnerability: Life course perspectives” financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation (51NF40-185901) and the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant (801076). Marko Kerac also gratefully acknowledges UKRI GCRF / Medical Research Council funding (grant reference MR/V000802/1). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Journal
PLOS Global Public Health
Article Title
Exposure to the 1959–1961 Chinese famine and risk of non-communicable diseases in later life: A life course perspective
Article Publication Date
16-Aug-2023
COI Statement
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.