Early-Life Exposure to the Chinese Famine of 1959-1961 and Type 2 Diabetes in Adulthood: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The fast-growing literature suggests that the Chinese famine of 1959-1961 drives current and future type 2 diabetes (T2D) epidemics in China. This conclusion may be premature, as many Chinese famine studies have major methodological problems. We examine these problems, demonstrate how they bias the study results, and formulate recommendations to improve the quality of future studies.

Methods

We searched English and Chinese databases for studies that examined the relationship between prenatal exposure to the Chinese famine and adult T2D from inception to 8 February 2022. We extracted information on T2D cases and study populations of individuals born during the famine (famine births), before the famine (prefamine births), and after the famine (postfamine births). We

SUBMITTER: Li C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9317968 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature