Sixty years after the end of World War II, what is known as the “hunger winter” in the Netherlands is still producing victims. The winter of 1944-45 was extremely cold, and much of the country experienced severe food shortages. It has been found that children born during the hunger winter suffer more often from cardiovascular problems later in life. Both the University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht and the Academic Medical Center (AMC) in Amsterdam are trying to find out why this is, and the centers will soon be joining forces. An article on this subject will appear in the April issue of Uniek, UMC Utrecht's Dutch-language magazine. This new partnership between the two university teaching hospitals will combine data from two cohorts: women who were between 2 and 33 years of age during the hunger winter, and babies who were born just before, during, or right after this period. This will make it possible to conduct a continuous analysis of exposure to the hunger winter, from the time in the womb and just after birth to young adulthood. The study is intended to provide more insight into the role of malnutrition during specific periods of human development in the onset of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and strokes later in life.
Researchers at the Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care at UMC Utrecht are following a cohort of 19,000 women who were between the ages of 2 and 33 during the hunger winter. Women who were adolescent age or younger during this time of severe malnutrition have an increased risk of breast cancer later in life. It has also been found that they enter menopause earlier and are somewhat less fertile.
Clinical epidemiologists at the AMC are following a group of people who were born in the Wilhelmina Gasthuis hospital around the time of the hunger winter. They have data on approximately 2,400 babies who were born just before, during, or just after this time. They found that children born during the hunger winter suffer more often from cardiovascular problems later in life. Going hungry early in pregnancy was found to be particularly harmful. As adults, they suffer more often from things like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, a poor lipid profile, and blood coagulation disorders.
Also in Uniek Some of the other topics in the April issue of Uniek: Plastic surgeon Aebele Mink Van der Molen argues that second-trimester ultrasounds lead to aborting children with a cleft lip and palate; New course gets pediatricians to watch more carefully for signs of child abuse; Doctors at Wilhelmina Children's Hospital/UMC Utrecht successfully performed a complicated heart operation on a baby weighing only 1,500 grams; Thoughts can be used to guide a cursor: brain-computer interface comes to the aid of people with paralysis.
Uniek (in Dutch) can be accessed online at
www.uniekmagazine.nl.