The association between fetal-stage exposure to the China famine and risk of diabetes mellitus in adulthood: results from the China health and retirement longitudinal study

BACKGROUND: The associations of famine exposure with diabetes risk in adulthood are still unclear. This study aimed to explore the association between famine exposure in early life and risk of diabetes in adulthood. METHODS: A total of 4138 subjects were selected from the data of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) 2011–2012. Diabetes was diagnosed as fasting plasma glucose (FPG) ≥7.0 mmol/L, glycated haemoglobin (HbA(1C)) > 6.5%, or self-reported diabetes. Birthdates of subjects were used to categorize famine exposure groups. The association of fetal-stage famine exposure with diabetes risk in adults was assessed using logistics regression model. RESULTS: The prevalence of diabetes in the non-exposed, fetal-stage exposed, infant-stage exposed, and preschool-stage exposed groups were 9.0, 13.6, 12.7 and 10.8%, respectively. Compared with the age-balanced control group, the fetal-stage exposed group was associated with the elevated risk of diabetes in later life after adjusting for covariates (OR = 1.37; 95%CI: 1.09–1.72; P = 0.008). Stratified analysis showed that the association between prenatal famine exposure and diabetes risk in adulthood was comparable between severely affected areas and less severely affected areas (P for interaction =0.153). CONCLUSIONS: Famine exposure in fetal stages was associated with the elevated diabetes risk in adults, which could be the critical periods for relative intervention. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-018-6134-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.