Early-Life Environmental Exposures and Height, Hypertension, and Cardiovascular Risk Factors Among Older Adults in India

Abstract

Environmental exposures like rainfall and temperature influence infectious disease exposure and nutrition, two key early life conditions linked to later life health. However, few tests of whether early life environmental exposures impact adult health have been performed, particularly in developing countries. This study examines the effects of experiencing rainfall and temperature shocks during gestation and up through the first four years after birth on measured height, hypertension, and other cardiovascular risk factors using data on adults aged 50 and above (N=1,036) from the 2007–2008 World Health Organization Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (SAGE) and district-level meteorological data from India. Results from multivariate logistic regressions show that negative rainfall shocks during gestation and positive rainfall shocks during the post-birth period increase the risk of having adult hypertension and CVD risk factors. Exposure to negative rainfall shocks and positive temperature shocks in the post-birth period increases the likelihood of falling within the lowest height decile. Prenatal shocks may influence nutrition in utero, while postnatal shocks may increase exposure to infectious diseases and malnutrition. The results suggest that gestation and the first two years after birth are critical periods when rainfall and temperature shocks take on increased importance for adult health.

Associations between high temperatures in pregnancy and risk of preterm birth, low birth weight, and stillbirths: systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Lastly, it is important to note that in utero exposure to heat has been linked with a range of childhood and adult conditions, and even long term economic prospects. 8 9 10 98 99 Each of these topics warrants closer study.…”

“…This complexity is heightened by the lag times between heat exposure in pregnancy and adverse outcomes, which can be several months with congenital anomalies, for example, as these anomalies might become apparent only at birth. Additionally, lag times can even be decades, with outcomes that manifest in adulthood 8910. Much of the research on climate change and health in low and middle income countries has centred on infectious diseases such as malaria, and in high income countries, the focus has been on heat related mortality among groups such as elderly people or those with chronic conditions.…”

Comparative health system performance in six middle-income countries: cross-sectional analysis using World Health Organization study of global ageing and health

“…A study using the SAGE and climate research data from India found that exposure to climate shocks in early life was associated with higher risk in adults of developing hypertension later in their life. 27…”

Google trend analysis of climatic zone based Indian severe seasonal sensitive population

“…In India, there are multiple factors could attenuate the seasonality in SCLD. The major factors are temperature and rainfall of the geographical locations, and the periods of searches (year, month and week) [22][23][24][25][26][27]. India has been divided into four major main climatic regions based on temperature and rainfall namely hot & dry, cold, composite and hot & humid [28].…”