Abstract:
Background. The mortality impacts of 1975-77 E.C Great Ethiopian famine is well documented and was
clearly significant. However, the long term sequel of the assault such as its impact on priming for adulthood
chronic illness among adult has never been documented. Metabolic syndrome (MetS) has been
hypothesized to have an association with grave intrauterine and early childhood nutritional problems. In
response, the present study is designed to explore the effects of prenatal starvation on adulthood metabolic
syndrome of the survivors of the great Ethiopian famine.
Objectives: To explore effects of prenatal famine exposure on adulthood metabolic syndrome among
survivors of the 1975-77 E.C Great Ethiopian famine in North Wollo, Ethiopia, 2019.
Methods: A historical cohort study was conducted from March to April/2019 among 456 adult subjects
selected using multi stage sampling methods. Data on socio-demographic and economic, behavioral, dietary
consumption, anthropometry and biochemical measurements were collected through face to face interview
using a structured questionnaire. Data were checked, cleaned and entered in to Epidata software version
3.1, and were exported to SPSS version 23 software for analysis. The independent T test and chi-square
were used to assess the differences between two groups. A multivariable Logistic regression was used to
control the possible confounders while estimating the effect of the exposure on metabolic syndrome. Odds
ratio and their 95% confidence intervals were computed and a P-value of less than 0.05 was taken to declare
the level of significance.
Result: Prevalence of MetS among adults who had history prenatal famine exposure was 18.5%, while the
proportion among non-exposed adults was 8.4%. After adjusting with sex, residence, dietary consumption,
physical activity, alcohol consumption, wealth tertiles. Prenatal famine exposed adults were twice more
likely to have MetS compared with the non-exposed groups (AOR=2.25; 95% CI: 1.28, 4.21; P=0.002).
There were also higher odds of MetS among adults having low physical activity as compared to high
physical activity level (AOR=1.73; 95% CI: 1.07,4.21). Similarly, significant differences were observed
in waist circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressure measurements. But test for association for the
high density lipoprotein had shown non-significant relationship (p=0.33)
Conclusion: Prenatal famine exposure is found to have significant association with increased risk of
metabolic syndrome. Low physical activity of adults was further strengthening the association of famine
exposure for metabolic syndrome. Nutrition during fetal life remains critical in modifying the risk for
adulthood chronic disease.
