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No evidence of programmed late-life mortality in the Finnish famine cohort

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2012

K. Saxton ,
A. Falconi ,
S. Goldman-Mellor  and
R. Catalano
K. Saxton
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA, USA
A. Falconi
Affiliation:
School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
S. Goldman-Mellor*
Affiliation:
School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
R. Catalano
Affiliation:
School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
*
*Address for correspondence: Dr S. Goldman-Mellor, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, 50 University Hall, Berkeley, CA, USA. (Email [email protected])
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Abstract

The developmental origins hypothesis suggests that morbidity and premature mortality arise, in part, from adverse exposures in utero and early in development. Evidence suggests a connection between early nutritional deficits and adult morbidity; however, the effects on mortality have been less well studied and previous studies provide conflicting results. We extracted Finnish birth cohort death rates from the Human Mortality Database. Our test asks whether men or women born during the 1867–1868 Great Finnish Famine exhibited death rates in old age different from expected, based on death rates among Finnish cohorts born 1818–1866. We found no support for the argument that exposure to the Finnish famine in utero induced excess mortality from age 60 to 89 in either men or women. Our results suggest that the Finnish famine did not induce, via epigenetic changes or any other mechanism, premature mortality in older age among exposed individuals.

Keywords

gestationmortalitynutrition
Type
Brief Report
Information
Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , February 2013 , pp. 30 - 34
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and the International Society for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease 2012 

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