Cholesterol levels in later life amongst UK Channel islanders exposed to the 1940-45 German occupation as children, adolescents and young adults

• Published in: Nutrition and health (Berkhamsted) 2009, Vol.20 (2), p.91-105
• Main Authors: Head, Rosemary F, Gilthorpe, Mark S, Ellison, George T.H
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adjustment; Adolescent; adolescents; Birth Weight; blood lipids; Channel Islands; Child; Child Nutrition Disorders - blood; Child Nutrition Disorders - epidemiology; children; Cholesterol; Cholesterol - blood; Cohort Studies; elderly; Female; Food; food deprivation; food intake; Germany; Health Surveys; human health; Humans; hypercholesterolemia; Hypercholesterolemia - blood; Hypercholesterolemia - epidemiology; longitudinal studies; Male; malnutrition; Malnutrition - blood; Malnutrition - epidemiology; maternal nutrition; Middle Aged; Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Occupations; postnatal development; prenatal development; risk factors; Severity of Illness Index; Sex Distribution; United Kingdom; World War II; World War II German Occupation; Young Adult; young adults
• ISSN: 0260-1060; 2047-945X
• DOI: 10.1177/026010600902000202

Background: To clarify the nature of the relationship between: food deprivation and undernutrition during pre- and postnatal development; and cholesterol levels in later life, this study examined the relationship between birth weight (as a marker of prenatal nutrition) and cholesterol levels among 396 Guernsey islanders (born in 1923–1937), 87 of whom (22%) had been exposed to food deprivation as children, adolescents or young adults (i.e. to postnatal undernutrition) during the 1940–45 German occupation of the Channel Islands, and 309 of Whom (78%) had left or been evacuated from the islands before the occupation began. Methods: Three sets of multiple regression models were used to investigate: Model A — the relationship between birth weight and cholesterol levels; Model B — the relationship between postnatal exposure to the occupation and cholesterol levels; and Model C — any interaction between birth weight, postnatal exposure to the occupation and cholesterol levels. Model A and Model B also tested for any interactions between: birth weight/occupation exposure and sex; and birth weight/occupation exposure and parish of residence at birth (as a marker of parish of residence during the occupation and related variation in the severity of food deprivation). Results: Before (and after) adjusting for potential confounders, no statistically significant relationships were observed between either birth weight (before adjustment: 0.09mmol/1 per kg increase, 95% CI: −0.30, 0.16; after adjustment: 0.08mmol/1 per kg increase, 95%CI: −0.17, 0.34) or exposure to the occupation (before adjustment: 0.01 mmol/l for exposed group, 95%CI: −0.24, 0.27; after adjustment: 0.041llmol/1 for exposed group, 95%CI: −0.26, 0.33) and cholesterol levels in later life. There was also little evidence of significant relationships between birth weight, exposure to the occupation and cholesterol levels in later life when Model A and Model B were stratified by sex or parish of residence at birth, although there was a significant positive relationship between birth weight and cholesterol levels in women (0.44mmol/1 per kg increase, 95%CI: 0.07, 0.81). Conclusions: These analyses provide little support for the theory that birth weight is inversely related to cholesterol levels in later life, and do not offer any evidence in support of a relationship between undernutrition in childhood, adolescence and early adulthood and cholesterol levels in later life. However, further research may determ