Cardiovascular health of Finnish war evacuees 60 years later

Alastalo, Hanna; Räikkönen, Katri; Pesonen, Anu-Katriina; Osmond, Clive; Barker, D. J. P.; Kajantie, Eero; Heinonen, Kati; Forsén, Tom; Eriksson, Johan G.

doi:10.1080/07853890802301983

Cited by 104 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…In their study reports, Bosnjak et al conclude that stressful life (war) events can be provocative factors for the occurrence of epileptic seizures 17 . Furthermore, cardiovascular morbidity at the age of 23 was not found in our study, whereas Alastalo et al pointed to increased cardiovascular morbidity and emergence of type 2 diabetes in adults exposed in childhood to war stress in World War II 18 . Perhaps our subsequent research shall prove otherwise or confirm the current findings.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 51%

Twenty-Three-Year Long-Term Health Outcome After the War in Vukovar

Habek

Dujaković

Habek

et al. 2016

ACC

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SUMMARY -Results of the first research of this kind on the 23-year long-term outcome in children born during the war in Vukovar are presented. This retrospective clinical study surveyed the potential 23-year long-term consequences and morbidity of children born between May 1, 1991 and November 19, 1991, during the siege and occupation of Vukovar. Data were obtained from women having delivered their babies in that period and from delivery protocols of the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Vukovar County Hospital. According to the survey and the data collected, there were 9 (3.98%) preterm deliveries, 60 (81%) of the total of 77 subjects were breastfed, 14 (19%) were not breastfed, while three babies died in the postpartum period. However, the breastfeeding period was evidently shorter, as only 10 women breastfed for a period longer than 6 months, while the mean length of the breastfeeding period was 9.9 weeks, i.e. 2.5 months. Allergyrelated illnesses and proneness to infections in childhood and preschool age were found in 27.3% and 16.9% of children, respectively, while two children developed diabetes type 1. One child had atopic diathesis, two started speaking after the age of two, one child started walking late (after 20 months) and started speaking after the age of two, one child had loud sound phobia, and one used to overreact and express anger in inconvenient situations, all of them being of female gender and born prematurely. Cognitive and attention disorders and stress reactions were found in 6.5% of the children. Regular elementary school education was completed by 74 (96%) children, while three (3.8%) children experienced failure at school due bad behavior, i.e. delinquency. At the age of 23, 34 (46%) children had developed bad habits, i.e. 33 of them smoked, 2 were addicted to alcohol, whereas one was addicted to both smoking and alcohol. Forty (54%) subjects did not use any harmful substances. Psychiatric disorders related to anxiety, depression or other illnesses were not found in this research. In conclusion, it should be noted that pregnant women who gave birth during the study period spent the first trimester of their pregnancy in a relatively peaceful pre-war period without acute stressors, so the long-term results and morbidity actually did not differ from those in the general population. The most important isolated risk factor was premature delivery with the known short-term and long-term consequences typical for premature delivery (perinatal mortality, slow neuromotor and cognitive development).

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 51%

Twenty-Three-Year Long-Term Health Outcome After the War in Vukovar

Habek

Dujaković

Habek

et al. 2016

ACC

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“…It was argued that stress in childhood war evacuees (average age 4.8, SD 2.4) is linked to increased risk of diabetes later in life (39). Maybe the highest population-wide stress levels during the last century in Austria were reached by the bombing of Austrian cities between December 1943 and April 1945.…”

Section: Literacy (Si Text)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantification of excess risk for diabetes for those born in times of hunger, in an entire population of a nation, across a century

Thurner

Klimek

Szell

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Based on a unique dataset comprising all 325,000 Austrian patients that were under pharmaceutical treatment for diabetes during 2006 and 2007, we measured the excess risk of developing diabetes triggered by undernourishment in early life. We studied the percentage of all diabetes patients in the total population specifically for each year of birth, from 1917 to 2007. We found a massive excess risk of diabetes in people born during the times of the three major famines and immediately after, which occurred in Austria in the 20th century : 1918-1919, 1938, and 1946-1947. Depending on the region, there was an up to 40% higher chance of having diabetes when born in 1919-1921, compared with 1918 or 1922, where age-specific typical diabetes ratios are observed. The excess risk for diabetes was practically absent in those provinces of Austria that were less affected by the famines. We show that diabetes rates exhibit nontrivial, age-specific sex differences, and correlate with the economic wealth of the region. Our results might be of relevance for establishing higher awareness in the health system for those born in high-risk years, and underline the importance of ensuring sufficient nutrition in prenatal and early stages of life.epidemic | glucose tolerance | intrauterine programming | massive data analysis | fetal development

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“…The group of separated individuals was two times more likely to develop CVD when compared with the nonseparated group. This study presented evidence that ELS can have life-long effects on later cardiometabolic health (Alastalo et al, 2009). …”

Section: Cardiovascular Disease and Type 2 Diabetesmentioning

confidence: 95%