Abstract
Objective
The risk of metabolic disease in adulthood is not only attributed to an unhealthy
lifestyle after birth but also to famine exposure during the foetal period. This systematic
review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the effects of foetal exposure to famine
as a risk factor for developing nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in adulthood.
Methods
Studies were retrieved from PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, China
National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Wanfang databases to evaluate the effect
of foetal exposure to famine on the risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in adulthood.
Results
Six studies involving 90,582 subjects were included in this meta-analysis. Foetal
exposure to famine was associated with an increased risk of NAFLD(RR = 1.17, 95% CI:
1.08–1.27, P < 0.0001). Exposure to famine during the foetal period significantly increased the
incidence of NAFLD in women (RR = 1.27, 95% CI: 1.16–1.40, P <0.00001), while similar results were not observed in the male subgroup (RR =0.99,
95% CI: 0.89–1.11, P = 0.88). Foetal exposure to famine was associated with the risk of mild NAFLD (RR = 1.17,
95% CI: 1.02–1.33, P = 0.02) and moderate to severe NAFLD (RR = 1.51, 95% CI: 1.16–1.98, P = 0.002).
Conclusions
Foetal exposure to famine is associated with an increased risk of NAFLD in adulthood.
Women with NAFLD and moderate to severe NAFLD have a more robust association with
foetal exposure to famine.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 23, 2022
Accepted:
September 30,
2022
Received:
July 5,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Corrected ProofIdentification
Copyright
© 2022 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
