The foundation for chronic diseases is laid early in life

The study published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity associates an increased rate of chronic disease accumulation across the life course with the following risk factors: higher maternal BMI and younger age, lower child birthweight, rapid growth during infancy and childhood, poorer childhood socioeconomic status, and wartime separation from parents.

– There is very little data in the world that can tell us about the significance of early life in the accumulation of diseases throughout the entire lifespan, says researcher Markus Haapanen from Folkhälsan Research Center.

– Previous literature has provided a less coherent picture, whereas this article is a comprehensive overview of this phenomenon, showing that it is broader and more consistent than previously understood.

War evacuee children accumulated multiple chronic diseases

Additionally, for the first time, researchers have quantified the accelerated disease accumulation and premature aging caused by wartime evacuations. Finnish war evacuee children developed more chronic diseases over the course of their lives than their non-evacuated peers.

In comparison to individuals who were not evacuated during the war, evacuee children developed an additional chronic disease every 35–40 years. The current study did not specify the types of diseases.

– The war evacuee children were sent away to be protected from the war, but our research shows that such an action also may have long-term health consequences for the children who were evacuated, says Haapanen.

The study provides unique information on the ways in which early physical, psychological, biological, and socioeconomic factors affect the development of chronic diseases throughout life.

– These are very complex issues when it comes to preventive interventions, but any efforts to reduce socioeconomic health disparities, prevent conflicts, and address obesity in mothers and children could be considered, says Haapanen.

The study published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity can be read here.

How the study was conducted: The study is part of the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study (HBCS), which focuses on health and disease from a life course perspective. The study included 11,689 men and women born in 1934–1944 at Helsinki University Central Hospital. Information on height and weight from birth and childhood, socioeconomic factors, and data on children who had been evacuated to Sweden or Denmark during wartime were collected from various registers. Linear mixed models were used to examine the association between early life factors and the rate of accumulation of chronic diseases over 10-year periods. The researchers were able to assess how long it took for physical, psychological, biological, and socioeconomic risk factors to lead to the accumulation of an additional chronic disease within the cohort. The study has been carried out in cooperation with Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.

How the study was conducted:

The study is part of the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study (HBCS), which focuses on health and disease from a life course perspective. The study included 11,689 men and women born in 1934–1944 at Helsinki University Central Hospital.
Information on height and weight from birth and childhood, socioeconomic factors, and data on children who had been evacuated to Sweden or Denmark during wartime were collected from various registers. Linear mixed models were used to examine the association between early life factors and the rate of accumulation of chronic diseases over 10-year periods.
The researchers were able to assess how long it took for physical, psychological, biological, and socioeconomic risk factors to lead to the accumulation of an additional chronic disease within the cohort.
The study has been carried out in cooperation with Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.

More information:

Markus Haapanen
Researcher
Folkhälsan Research Center
E-mail: markus.haapanen@helsinki.fi