Title
Intrauterine famine exposure and body proportions at birth: The Dutch Hunger Winter
Author
TNO Preventie en Gezondheid
Stein, A.D.
Zybert, P.A.
van de Bor, M.
Lumey, L.H.
Publication year
2004
Abstract
Background. Fetal programming of adult disease may be a long-term effect of fetal nutrition. Expected short-term effects include changes in body size and proportions at birth. The specific responses of fetal growth to acute undernutrition at varying points in pregnancy are still unclear. Methods. We abstracted all birth records of infants born in two midwife training schools in the western Netherlands between 1 October 1944 and 31 March 1946, and compared infants whose mothers were exposed to the Dutch famine of 1944-1945 during specific trimesters of pregnancy with control infants born in 1943. We considered birthweight (BWT), crown-to-heel length (CHL), head circumference (HC), and ratio and regression-adjusted measures of these parameters. Results. BWT, CHL, and HC declined with famine exposure late in pregnancy. Changes in WT for CHL paralleled changes in WT alone in size and direction. Results for HC were inconsistent, varying by choice of body size adjustor (WT or CHL), and by method of adjustment (ratio or regression). BWT, CHL, and HC did not change with first trimester famine exposure. Conclusion. Even under famine conditions, birth size and body proportions vary only with late pregnancy exposure. HC for body size has the added disadvantage that late pregnancy exposure effects vary drastically with choice of measure. We do not recommend the use of birth size or body proportions as a proxy for fetal nutritional status in the study of adult disease. © International Epidemiological Association 2004; all rights reserved.
Subject
Birth size
Body proportions
Famine
The Netherlands
famine
adult
anthropometry
birth rate
controlled study
epidemiological data
fetus
fetus growth
fetus monitoring
first trimester pregnancy
head circumference
low birth weight
major clinical study
malnutrition
maternal nutrition
midwife
nutritional status
register
regression analysis
third trimester pregnancy
winter
Birth Weight
Body Constitution
Body Height
Case-Control Studies
Cephalometry
Female
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Maternal Nutrition Physiology
Netherlands
Pregnancy
Pregnancy Trimesters
Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects
Starvation
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http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:6f94169c-b57b-4820-b1dd-678fec4be711
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyh083
TNO identifier
237915
ISSN
0300-5771
Source
International Journal of Epidemiology, 33 (33), 831-836
Document type
article