Famine, Maternal Nutrition and Infant Mortality: A Re-examination of the Dutch Hunger Winter

Hart, Nicky

doi:10.1080/0032472031000146716

Cited by 95 publications

(49 citation statements)

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“…Hart (1993) found no evidence that prenatal exposure to the [1944][1945] Dutch Famine was associated with an increase in infant mortality. 4 In contrast, Scott et al (1995) found that the 1623 famine in northern England did increase infant mortality rates, especially for infants who were exposed during the later stages of pregnancy.…”

Section: Previous Studies On the Impact Of Faminesmentioning

confidence: 51%

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The Effects of Intrauterine Malnutrition on Birth and Fertility Outcomes: Evidence From the 1974 Bangladesh Famine

2014

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This paper uses the Bangladesh Famine of 1974 as a natural experiment to estimate the impact of intrauterine malnutrition on sex ratio at birth and infant mortality, and also on post-Famine pregnancy outcomes for women who were exposed to the Famine while pregnant. Using the 1996 Matlab Health and Socioeconomic Survey (MHSS), we …nd that children who were in utero during the most severe period of the Famine were 2 percent more likely to die within one month or one year of birth compared to children who were not in utero during the Famine. Furthermore, controlling for preFamine fertility, we …nd that women who were pregnant during the Famine experienced a higher number of stillbirths in the post-Famine years. This increase appears to be driven by an excess number of male stillbirths. JEL Codes: I10, I12, J12, J13.

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Section: Previous Studies On the Impact Of Faminesmentioning

confidence: 51%

“…For instance, maybe more cautious mothers who are concerned for their child's health avoid becoming pregnant during food shortages. 13 To control for such traits, we include mother …xed e¤ects in the regressions in columns 6 and 9. The result for death by 1 month remains signi…cant at the 5 percent level.…”

Section: Columns 4 and 7 Ofmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Intrauterine Malnutrition on Birth and Fertility Outcomes: Evidence From the 1974 Bangladesh Famine

2014

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“…We suggest that high wheat prices and inadequate nutrition of the mother during pregnancy caused greater susceptibility to the disease in the subsequent children who contracted it and died in the next epidemic. Neonatal mortality has been shown to be associated with malnutrition in pregnancy, whereas post-neonatal mortality was primarily directly dependent on exogenous causes in the first year of life, both in England in the 17th century [22] and in the Dutch hunger winter between September 1944 and May 1945 [24,25]. Malnutrition during pregnancy has also been suggested to increase the susceptibility of the progeny to measles (Duncan and colleagues, personal observation).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The dynamics of scarlet fever epidemics in England and Wales in the 19th century

Duncan

Duncan²,

Scott

1996

Epidemiol. Infect.

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SUMMARYThere was a marked rise in scarlet fever mortality in England and Wales in the mid-nineteenth century and spectral analysis of the registration details, 1847-80, shows that the interepidemic interval was 5-6 years, but after 1880 the endemic level fell and the fatal epidemics disappeared. The dynamics of the scarlet fever epidemics can be represented by a linearized mathematical model and because the system is lightly damped, it could be driven by an oscillation in susceptibility. Epidemics were significantly correlated with dry conditions in spring/summer (P < 0-001), suggesting that these produced a low amplitude oscillation in susceptibility which drove the system. Epidemics also correlated (P < 0-001) with an oscillation in wheat prices but at a lag of 3 years, suggesting that malnutrition during pregnancy caused increased susceptibility in the subsequent children which interacted synergistically with seasonal dry conditions. Scarlet fever mortality was sharply reduced after 1880 in parallel with falling wheat prices suggesting that the remarkable period of high scarlet fever mortality (1840-80) was dependent on poor nutritive levels during that time.

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“…However, whereas the western Netherlands was exposed to severe food and fuel shortages during the winter of 1944±1945, the overall reproductive casualty rates (stillbirths plus infant mortality) were no worse in the west, and for most of the time, considerably lower than in the north and south of the country [7,8]. As an explanation for this paradox, selective migration of the healthiest and best fed women towards the west has been postulated [41]. It is possible that this has led to regional baseline differences in breast cancer risk.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Untitled

Dirx

Brandt

Goldbohm

et al. 1999

Cancer Causes and Control

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Objectives: In The Netherlands, part of the population experienced food restriction and severe famine during World War II. The purpose of this study was to study the e ects of severe undernutrition during adolescence on the risk of breast cancer later in life. Methods: We examined the hypothesis in the Netherlands Cohort Study on diet and cancer (NLCS), among 62,573 women aged 55±69 years. Baseline information on diet and other risk factors was collected with a questionnaire in 1986. Information was collected on residence in the Hunger winter (1944±1945) and War years (1940±1944) and fathers' employment status in 1932±1940 as indicators of exposure. After 6.3 years of follow-up, 1009 incident breast cases were available for analysis. Results: In multivariate case-cohort analysis, residents of the western part of the country in 1944±1945 had an increased breast cancer risk (western city RR = 1.1, 95% CI: 0.9±1.4, western rural area RR = 1.5, 95% CI: 1.1± 1.9). For the War years (1940±1944) we found no association between breast cancer risk and urban vs. rural residence. Women whose fathers were unemployed during the Depression years (1932±1940) had a non-signi®cant decrease in breast cancer risk (RR = 0.9, 95% CI: 0.7±1.2). Exposure to energy restriction during the adolescent growth spurt or during the period between menarche and birth of the ®rst child did not change the RRs substantially. Conclusions: We found no clear evidence in this study for the hypothesis that energy restriction in adolescence leads to a decreased breast cancer risk.

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Famine, Maternal Nutrition and Infant Mortality: A Re-examination of the Dutch Hunger Winter

Cited by 95 publications

References 1 publication

The Effects of Intrauterine Malnutrition on Birth and Fertility Outcomes: Evidence From the 1974 Bangladesh Famine

The Effects of Intrauterine Malnutrition on Birth and Fertility Outcomes: Evidence From the 1974 Bangladesh Famine

The dynamics of scarlet fever epidemics in England and Wales in the 19th century

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