Early-life disease exposure and associations with adult survival, cause of death, and reproductive success in preindustrial humans.

ABSTRACT: A leading hypothesis proposes that increased human life span since 1850 has resulted from decreased exposure to childhood infections, which has reduced chronic inflammation and later-life mortality rates, particularly from cardiovascular disease, stroke, and cancer. Early-life cohort mortality rate often predicts later-life survival in humans, but such associations could arise from factors other than disease exposure. Additionally, the impact of early-life disease exposure on reproduction remains unknown, and thus previous work ignores a major component of fitness through which selection acts upon life-history strategy. We collected data from seven 18th- and 19th-century Finnish populations experiencing naturally varying mortality and fertility levels. We quantified early-life disease expo

SUBMITTER: Hayward AD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4987806 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature