Economic recession: a cause of later CVD?
As recession looms in various countries, so the effects of economic stress on families may be passed on to the children born during such times, causing a higher risk of them developing fatal cardiovascular diseases in later life
Bad economic conditions, e.g. a recession, at the time of birth may lead to a higher risk of cardiovascular mortality much later in life, according to a recent study published by researchers at the Institute for the Study of Labour (IZA) in Bonn.
The study showed that individuals born in a recession on average live 15 months less than those born under better conditions and that this difference can be mostly attributed to cardiovascular health risks. ‘What is surprising is that such effects may pop up 70 or 80 years after birth,’ said Gerard van den Berg, Economics Professor at VU University Amsterdam and Programme Director at IZA, who co-authored the study with Gabriele Doblhammer-Reiter and Kaare Christensen. In the intervening years no extraordinary health events may occur, until suddenly the fatal cardiovascular problems arrive. The authors report that they do not find such long-run effects on cancer in general, although certain types of cancer have been linked to low birth weight, another marker of early-life conditions.
The team used data on individuals born around 1900, as well as that of twins in Denmark, whose mortality causes have been systematically gathered for many years. The latter made it possible to check whether a twin pair’s health outcomes are more similar later in life if they were born under adverse conditions than if they were born under good conditions. The finding was that they are more similar later in life if the starting position was bad. Conversely, if an individual is born under better conditions, then individual-specific factors dominate more.
Why might a recession, for example, cause later damage to the cardiovascular system? Dr Van den Berg said analyses carried out by the team for specific parts of Denmark suggest that long-run effects are particularly triggered by the combination of suboptimal nutrition and a suboptimal health infrastructure early in life. Low household income is less harmful for the baby’s future if the environment has good healthcare and hygiene facilities. In addition, stress is possibly a major factor. Parents who are economically stressed may produce offspring with features that make them more susceptible to CVDs at advanced ages.
One may wonder whether the results are of significance for present-day birth conditions. Of course, we need another 80 years to know for sure. But there are signs that long-run effects are as important as ever. For example, birth weight studies among recent cohorts show effects on health and adult height that are as strong as ever. And with the advent of the fast food society, nutritional habits among segments of society may not be as good as they used to be.
From this point of view, it may be worthwhile to screen young individuals born under adverse conditions for CV markers and predictors, and to expose those who have unfavourable test values to preventive interventions. Moreover, the results support investments in nutritional quality and health infrastructure in countries with a high degree of deprivation, as a means to reduce the cardiovascular mortality rate in future years.
Source: Gerard J. van den Berg, Gabriele Doblhammer-Reiter, Kaare Christensen:Being Born Under Adverse Economic Conditions Leads to a Higher Cardiovascular Mortality Rate Later in Life: Evidence Based on Individuals Born at Different Stages of the Business Cycle IZA Discussion Paper No. 3635, Bonn: August 2008. http://ftp.iza.org/dp3635.pdf
01.09.2008
