TY - JOUR
T1 - Early-Life Environmental Exposures and Height, Hypertension, and Cardiovascular Risk Factors among Older Adults in India
AU - Ho, Jessica Y.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Grant No. DGE-0822, the Grand Challenges Canada Grant Project Grant 0072-03 to the grantee, the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, and a National Institute on Aging training grant to the Population Research Center at Duke University (T32 AG000139).
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © Society for Biodemography and Social Biology.
PY - 2015/5/4
Y1 - 2015/5/4
N2 - 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 postbirth period increase the risk of having adult hypertension and CVD risk factors. Exposure to negative rainfall shocks and positive temperature shocks in the postbirth 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.
AB - 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 postbirth period increase the risk of having adult hypertension and CVD risk factors. Exposure to negative rainfall shocks and positive temperature shocks in the postbirth 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.
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U2 - 10.1080/19485565.2015.1045580
DO - 10.1080/19485565.2015.1045580
M3 - Article
C2 - 26266969
AN - SCOPUS:84939533103
SN - 1948-5565
VL - 61
SP - 121
EP - 146
JO - Biodemography and Social Biology
JF - Biodemography and Social Biology
IS - 2
ER -