Impact of early life famine exposure on adulthood anthropometry among survivors of the 1983-1985 Ethiopian Great famine: a historical cohort study

BackgroundNutritional insult in early life brings adaptive changes in body structure and functioning that could remain throughout the affected individual's life course. The long term impact of early life famine exposure on adulthood anthropometric measurements has been recorded in previous studies. However, the results were contradictory. Hence, we extend this study to examine the impact of famine exposure during early life on adulthood's anthropometry among survivors of the 1983-85 Ethiopian great famine.MethodsA total of 1384 adult men and women survived from 1983 to 85 Ethiopian great famine were included in the study. Famine exposure status was classified into five groups: early life-exposed, prenatal-exposed, postnatal-exposed, adolescence-exposed, and non-exposed based on self-reported age and birthdate of the participants. Prenatal, post-natal, and adolescence exposed groups were considered as early life exposed. Following a standard procedure, anthropometric measurements were taken. A linear regression analysis was used to analyze the impact of famine exposure on adult anthropometric measurements adjusted for all possible covariates. The effect of famine exposure on overweight, general obesity, and abdominal obesity was examined using multinomial and binary logistic regression analysis.ResultCompared to non-exposed groups, adult height was lower by 1.83cm (beta=-1.83; 95% CI: -3.05, -0.58), 1.35cm (beta=-1.35; 95% CI: -2.56, -0.14) and 2.07cm (beta=-2.07cm; 95% CI: -3.31, -0.80) among early life, prenatal and post-natal exposed groups, respectively. Likewise, famine exposure during early life (beta =0.02; 95% CI: 0.01, 0.03), prenatal (beta =0.03; 95% CI: 0.02, 0.03) and post-natal life (beta =0.02; 95% CI: 0.02, 0.03) was positively associated with increased waist to height ratio. However, none of the above exposures resulted in a significant association with body mass index (P>0. 05). Additionally, exposure to famine during early stage of life was not associated with increased risk of overweight, general obesity and abdominal obesity in adults.ConclusionDecreased adult height and increased waist-to-height ratio were associated with early life exposure to famine, particularly prenatal and post-natal exposure. These results therefore underscore the significance of avoiding undernutrition in early life, which tends to be important for achieving once potential adult height and to minimize the increased risk of anthropometric markers of abdominal obesity such as waist to height ratio in later life.

Automated summary

Early exposure to famine results in decreased adult height and increased waist-to-height ratio, particularly with prenatal and postnatal exposure. These findings emphasize the importance of preventing undernutrition in early life to achieve optimal adult height and reduce the risk of abdominal obesity markers in later life.