Objective: To investigate the effects of famine-experience during early life on diabetes mellitus and impaired fasting glucose in the adulthood.
Methods: In a total of 101 510 employees who took part in the health examination at the Kailuan Group between 2006 to 2007 were recruited. All the study subjects were born in Hebei province between 1956-10-01 and 1964-09-30 but those who had incomplete data were excluded. 19 347 subjects were finally included for analysis. Members from the famine-exposed group were born between Oct. 1, 1959 and Sep. 30, 1961. There was a semi-exposed group with members born between Oct. 1, 1958 and Sept. 30, 1959 and from Oct. 1, 1961 to Sept. 30, 1962 but members from the control group were born from Oct. 1, 1956 to Sept. 30, 1958 and from Oct. 1, 1962 to Sept. 30, 1964. Prevalence rates on diabetes mellitus and the detection rate of impaired fasting glucose among the three groups were compared. Logistic regression model was used to analyze the effects of famine-experience during early life with the prevalence of diabetes mellitus and the detection rate of impaired fasting glucose during adulthood.
Results: Prevalence of diabetes mellitus and the detection rate of impaired fasting glucose in the famine-exposed adult-cohort groups were 8.99%, 8.96% while 8.05% and 9.35% in the semi-exposure groups, 7.71% and 8.20% in the control group. Results from the multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that experiences of famine during early life increased the risk of diabetes mellitus and impaired fasting glucose in adulthood with the odds ratios as 1.218 (95% CI: 1.056-1.404, P = 0.007) and 1.142 (95% CI: 0.994-1.312, P = 0.061). After stratification by sex, odds ratios in males were 1.163 (95% CI: 1.001-1.350, P = 0.048)and 1.213(95% CI:1.039-1.417, P = 0.015). The odds ratios in females were 1.319 (95% CI: 0.920-1.891, P = 0.132) and 0.990 (95% CI: 0.679-1.444, P = 0.959).
Conclusion: Experiences of famine during early life increased the risk of diabetes mellitus and impaired fasting glucose in the adulthood. However, this negative effect existed mainly in the males, according to the results from our study.