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Table 1 General, maternal, pregnancy, birth and adult characteristics by timing of prenatal exposure to the Dutch famine

From: Prenatal exposure to the Dutch famine is associated with more self-perceived cognitive problems at 72 years of age

   

Exposure to famine

  

N

Born before

In late gestation

In mid gestation

In early gestation

Conceived after

Total

General characteristics

 N

 

183

98

77

50

187

595

 N Women (%)

595

96 (52.5)

48 (49.0)

50 (64.9)*

26 (52.0)

89 (47.6)

309 (51.9)

 Age (years)

595

73.8 (0.4)***

73.1 (0.1)**

72.8 (0.1)

72.5 (0.1)*

71.9 (0.4)

72.8 (0.8)

Maternal and pregnancy characteristics

 Pregnancy duration (days)

520

284 (11)

282 (10)

287 (13)

285 (9.6)

286 (12)

285 (11)

 Maternal age at birth (years)

595

28.8 (6.3)

31.1 (6.1)***

29.6 (6.3)

27.0 (5.9)

28.4 (6.2)

29.0 (6.3)

 N Primiparous (%)

595

70 (38.3)

19 (19.4)***

23 (29.9)

19 (38.0)

77 (41.2)

208 (35.0)

 N Manual occupation head of family (%)

475

108 (79.4)*

52 (59.8)*

49 (74.2)

27 (64.3)

97 (67.4)

333 (70.1)

Birth characteristics

 Birth weight (g)

595

3373 (458)

3222 (498)***

3204 (470)***

3503 (377)

3446 (478)

3360 (476)

 Head circumference (cm)

588

32.8 (1.4)

32.5 (1.7)**

32.2 (1.4)***

32.9 (1.4)

33.1 (1.6)

32.8 (1.5)

Adult characteristics

2002a

 N Hypercholesterolemia (%)

483

46 (30.1)

21 (25.3)

24 (32.9)

11 (29.7)

37 (27.0)

139 (28.8)

 N Hypertension (%)

483

49 (32.0)

24 (28.9)

30 (41.1)

10 (27.0)

51 (37.2)

164 (34.0)

 N Stroke or TIA (%)

483

0

0

3 (4.1)

0

0

3 (0.6)

 N Diabetes type 2 (%)

483

26 (17.0)

12 (14.5)

9 (12.3)

5 (13.5)

14 (10.2)

66 (13.7)

 N Vascular problems (heart infarction or angina pectoris) (%)

483

7 (4.6)

5 (6.0)

4 (5.5)

1 (2.7)

4 (2.9)

21 (4.3)

 N HADS anxiety >7b (%)

463

20 (13.4)

10 (13.2)

14 (19.7)

10 (29.4)

29 (21.8)

83 (17.9)

 N HADS depression >7b (%)

461

7 (4.7)

5 (6.5)

4 (5.6)

5 (15.2)

12 (9.2)

33 (7.2)

2008a

 N Hypercholesterolemia (%)

387

57 (47.1)

16 (24.2)**

27 (47.4)

15 (50.0)

43 (38.1)

158 (40.8)

 N Hypertension (%)

388

43 (35.5)

23 (34.3)

27 (47.4)

14 (46.7)

51 (45.1)

158 (40.7)

 N Stroke or TIA (%)

388

3 (2.5)

3 (4.5)

3 (5.3)

2 (6.7)

2 (1.8)

13 (3.4)

 N Diabetes type 2 (%)

388

16 (13.2)

11 (16.4)

4 (7.0)

6 (20.0)

13 (11.5)

50 (12.9)

 N Vascular problems (heart infarction or angina pectoris) (%)

387

14 (11.6)

5 (7.6)

4 (7.0)

4 (13.3)

11 (9.7)

38 (9.8)

 N HADS anxiety >7b (%)

369

17 (15.2)

7 (11.1)

7 (12.3)

8 (30.8)

18 (16.2)

57 (15.4)

 N HADS depression >7b (%)

372

7 (6.2)

6 (9.2)

5 (8.9)

7 (25.0)**

9 (8.2)

34 (9.1)

2018

 Level of educationc

589

4.8 (1.4)

4.9 (1.5)

4.8 (1.3)

4.5 (1.2)

4.9 (1.4)

4.8 (1.4)

 Socioeconomic statusd

590

0.08 (1.02)

0.16 (1.07)

0.13 (0.98)

0.14 (1.05)

0.08 (1.14)

0.10 (1.06)

 N Living alone (%)

591

65 (35.5)*

24 (24.7)

23 (29.9)

17 (34.0)

43 (23.4)

172 (29.1)

 N HADS anxiety >7b (%)

584

21 (11.8)

11 (11.7)

9 (12.0)

8 (16.0)

32 (17.1)

81 (13.9)

 N HADS depression >7b (%)

586

14 (7.8)

6 (6.3)

10 (13.2)

8 (16.0)

17 (9.1)

55 (9.4)

  1. Numbers represent frequencies(%) or means (SD). Asterisks represent p-values of linear and logistic regression analyses compared with participants unexposed to famine in gestation, or, for individuals born before the famine, compared to individuals conceived after the famine
  2. SES socioeconomic status, TIA Transient Ischemic Attack, HADS hospital anxiety and depression scale
  3. aThese data were only available for participants participating at a mean age of 58 (2002) or 63 (2008) in the Dutch Famine Birth Cohort. Hypercholesterolemia, Hypertension and stroke or TIA were derived from questions asking if participants had ever had these health conditions. Diabetes was also based on the questionnaire (2002 and 2008) or having a fasting plasma glucose of ≥7 mmol/l or a 2-h plasma glucose of ≥11.1 mmol/l following a 75 g oral glucose load (2002). Vascular problems were defined as either having a history of heart infarction or probable angina pectoris (based on multiple questions related to chest pain)
  4. bAnxiety and depression score > 7 on the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) [9]
  5. cLevel of education as the highest level of finished schooling measured on a 7-point scale; 1) Less than 6 years of primary school, 2) 6 years of primary school, 3) more than primary school, without an additional diploma, 4) craft school, 5) (pre-)secondary vocational education, 6) pre-university education, 7) higher professional education/university
  6. dBased on zip code and data from Statistics Netherlands from 2017 (CBS) (Range: −4.76-2.78, mean: 0.10 in our dataset)
  7. * < 0.05, ** < 0.01, *** < 0.001
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BMC Geriatrics

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