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Objective: To investigate the association between exposure to the famine during early life and elevated resting heart rate (RHR) in adulthood., Method: From June 2006 to October 2007, the employees of kailuan group who took part in the health examination were selected. Of those, 18 619 cases who was born during October 1, 1956 to September 30, 1964 in Hebei province were finally included in the analysis based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. All the subjects were received questionnaire survey, smoking and drinking, physical examination, Lab examination and the measurement of RHR. The subjects of famine exposure group (3 190 cases) were born from October 1, 1959 to September 30, 1961, semi-exposure group (3 851 cases) were born from October 1, 1958 to September 30, 1959 and from October 1, 1961 to September 30, 1962, control group (11 578 cases) were born from October 1, 1956 to September 30, 1958 and from October 1, 1962 to September 30, 1964. The RHR and the detection rate of elevated RHR were compared among the three groups. The Multivariate logistic regression model was used to analyze the association between of exposure to famine during early life and elevated RHR in adulthood., Results: The RHR level was higher in famine exposure group and semi-exposed group than control group, which were (74.34 ± 9.71), (74.41 ± 9.48) and (73.90 ± 9.45) beat per minute (bpm) (P values were 0.003 and 0.020, respectively). In all of the subjects. The results of multivariate logistic regression showed that exposure of famine during early life increased the risk of elevated RHR in adulthood after adjustment for age, gender and other confounders (OR = 1.10, 95% CI: 1.01-1.21). In men, exposure of famine during early life also increased the risk of elevated RHR in adulthood (OR = 1.15, 95% CI: 1.04-1.28); In women, there was no association between the famine exposure and elevated RHR (OR = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.74-1.14)., Conclusion: Exposure of famine during early life increases the risk of elevated RHR in adulthood. This negative effect existed mainly in the male.

Objective: To investigate the effects of famine-experience during early life on diabetes mellitus and impaired fasting glucose in the adulthood., Methods: In a total of 101 510 employees who took part in the health examination at the Kailuan Group between 2006 to 2007 were recruited. All the study subjects were born in Hebei province between 1956-10-01 and 1964-09-30 but those who had incomplete data were excluded. 19 347 subjects were finally included for analysis. Members from the famine-exposed group were born between Oct. 1, 1959 and Sep. 30, 1961. There was a semi-exposed group with members born between Oct. 1, 1958 and Sept. 30, 1959 and from Oct. 1, 1961 to Sept. 30, 1962 but members from the control group were born from Oct. 1, 1956 to Sept. 30, 1958 and from Oct. 1, 1962 to Sept. 30, 1964. Prevalence rates on diabetes mellitus and the detection rate of impaired fasting glucose among the three groups were compared. Logistic regression model was used to analyze the effects of famine-experience during early life with the prevalence of diabetes mellitus and the detection rate of impaired fasting glucose during adulthood., Results: Prevalence of diabetes mellitus and the detection rate of impaired fasting glucose in the famine-exposed adult-cohort groups were 8.99%, 8.96% while 8.05% and 9.35% in the semi-exposure groups, 7.71% and 8.20% in the control group. Results from the multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that experiences of famine during early life increased the risk of diabetes mellitus and impaired fasting glucose in adulthood with the odds ratios as 1.218 (95% CI: 1.056-1.404, P = 0.007) and 1.142 (95% CI: 0.994-1.312, P = 0.061). After stratification by sex, odds ratios in males were 1.163 (95% CI: 1.001-1.350, P = 0.048)and 1.213(95% CI:1.039-1.417, P = 0.015). The odds ratios in females were 1.319 (95% CI: 0.920-1.891, P = 0.132) and 0.990 (95% CI: 0.679-1.444, P = 0.959)., Conclusion: Experiences of famine during early life increased the risk of diabetes mellitus and impaired fasting glucose in the adulthood. However, this negative effect existed mainly in the males, according to the results from our study.