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Season-of-birth phenomenon in health and longevity: epidemiologic evidence and mechanistic considerations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 December 2020

Alexander Vaiserman Open the ORCID record for Alexander Vaiserman [Opens in a new window]
Alexander Vaiserman*
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Epigenetics, D.F. Chebotarev Institute of Gerontology, NAMS, 67 Vyshgorodska str., Kyiv04114, Ukraine
*
Address for correspondence: Alexander Vaiserman, Laboratory of Epigenetics, D.F. Chebotarev Institute of Gerontology, NAMS, 67 Vyshgorodska str., Kyiv 04114, Ukraine. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

In many human populations, especially those living in regions with pronounced climatic differences between seasons, the most sensitive (prenatal and neonatal) developmental stages occur in contrasting conditions depending on the season of conception. The difference in prenatal and postnatal environments may be a factor significantly affecting human development and risk for later life chronic diseases. Factors potentially contributing to this kind of developmental programming include nutrition, outdoor temperature, infectious exposures, duration of sunlight, vitamin D synthesis, etc. Month of birth is commonly used as a proxy for exposures which vary seasonally around the perinatal period. Season-of-birth patterns have been identified for many chronic health outcomes. In this review, the research evidence for the seasonality of birth in adult-life disorders is provided and potential mechanisms underlying the phenomenon of early life seasonal programming of chronic disease and longevity are discussed.

Keywords

DOHaDdevelopmental programmingseasonality of birthdisease risklongevity
Type
Review
Information
Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease , Volume 12 , Issue 6 , December 2021 , pp. 849 - 858
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press in association with International Society for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease

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