Exposure to famine in early childhood increases the risk of edentulism: results 1 from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study

Exposure to famine in early childhood increases the risk of edentulism: results 1 from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Exposure to famine in early childhood increases the risk of edentulism: results 1 from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study Dingfa Gu, Xiaoyan Chen, Dan Zheng, Yurong Leng, Xiaolin Lu, Jiaqin Wang This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6854061/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background: A severe famine occurred in China from 1958-1960, and it had a considerable impact on the population's health. The objective of this study was to examine the impact of early childhood famine on edentulism. Methods: We used data from 8209 adults surveyed between 2011 and 2012 as collected by the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Logistic regression was used to analyse the odds ratios (ORs) and confidence intervals (CIs) of early starvation and edentulism. Results: Compared with unexposed individuals, famine-exposed individuals had a significantly increased risk of edentulism. The ORs (95% CIs) were as follows: 2.718 (1.435, 5.368) for the foetal exposure group, 4.663 (2.740, 8.571) for the preschool group, and 8.830 (5.287, 16.022) for the school-age exposure group. After adjustment for age, sex, and location, the ORs (95% CIs) were 2.098 (1.052, 4.340) for the foetal exposure group, 2.751 (1.311, 6.003) for the preschool group, and 4.198 (1.739, 10.410) for the school-age exposure group. Following further adjustments for model 2 plus severity, income, education, smoking, drinking, hypertension, dyslipidaemia, diabetes, and heart disease, the final ORs (95% CIs) were 2.097 (1.047, 4.355) for the foetal exposure group, 2.625 (1.245, 5.746) for the preschool group, and 3.907 (1.608, 9.726) for the school-age exposure group. Conclusions: Early exposure to famine leads to increased risk of edentulism. Famine Foetal Malnutrition CHARLS Edentulism Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Tables 1 to 3 are available in the Supplementary Files section. Supplementary Files Supplementarytable.docx Tables.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6854061","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":491290612,"identity":"8845ac73-a62c-4613-8ffe-1446e15c7d20","order_by":0,"name":"Dingfa Gu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Shaoxing Stomatological Hospital","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Dingfa","middleName":"","lastName":"Gu","suffix":""},{"id":491290613,"identity":"7c70dfbf-3a8f-4ecb-8a41-dec1bec022ca","order_by":1,"name":"Xiaoyan Chen","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Shaoxing Stomatological 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11:38:43","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6854061/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6854061/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":87763606,"identity":"30cd3e59-ff37-4236-add7-3196cdb49ded","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-07-28 17:32:51","extension":"png","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":3445148,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eFlow chart of the study selection: famine in early childhood increases the risk of edentulism according to the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"Figure1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6854061/v1/0709052db3a86d8eaf748706.png"},{"id":87763610,"identity":"6432a6a6-1306-4ae8-8959-6e0ca9729f38","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-07-28 17:32:52","extension":"png","order_by":2,"title":"Figure 2","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":2817958,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eMap of the prevalence of edentulism in patients exposed to early famine in China across various regions.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"Figure2.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6854061/v1/1f7159411d1091376df3b8cb.png"},{"id":90150310,"identity":"f4d305d8-bdd5-4b96-83d7-1ea8c3026723","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-08-29 07:02:28","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1792067,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6854061/v1_covered_085e74fa-26ef-4b2e-ac00-7c9ed38f6e57.pdf"},{"id":87763605,"identity":"68bb538c-a8f1-4983-9557-6049abec1781","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-07-28 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Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Famine, Foetal Malnutrition, CHARLS, Edentulism","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6854061/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6854061/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBackground:\u003c/strong\u003e A severe famine occurred in China from 1958-1960, and it had a considerable impact on the population's health. The objective of this study was to examine the impact of early childhood famine on edentulism.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMethods: \u003c/strong\u003eWe used data from 8209 adults surveyed between 2011 and 2012 as collected by the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Logistic regression was used to analyse the odds ratios (ORs) and confidence intervals (CIs) of early starvation and edentulism.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eResults:\u003c/strong\u003e Compared with unexposed individuals, famine-exposed individuals had a significantly increased risk of edentulism. The ORs (95% CIs) were as follows: 2.718 (1.435, 5.368) for the foetal exposure group, 4.663 (2.740, 8.571) for the preschool group, and 8.830 (5.287, 16.022) for the school-age exposure group. 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