Table II.
Selected measures of reproductive function among 1070 men and women who participated in the telephone interview of the Hunger Winter Family Study, by recruitment category and gender.
| Females |
Males |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Famine exposed (n = 226) | Time control (n = 181) | Sibling control (n = 186) | P-value | Famine exposed (n = 181) | Time control (n = 163) | Sibling control (n = 133) | P-value | |
| Nulliparity (%) | 21 (9) | 17 (9) | 24 (13) | 0.42 | 20 (11) | 24 (15) | 18 (14) | 0.59 |
| Difficulties conceiving (%) | 42 (19) | 37 (20) | 41 (22) | 0.68 | 29 (16.0) | 27 (17) | 20 (15) | 0.95 |
| Menopausal status | ||||||||
| Premenopausal (%) versus all others | 1 (0) | 0 (0) | 33 (18) | <0.01 | ||||
| Post-menopausal (%) versus all others | ||||||||
| Natural menopause (%) | 167 (74) | 110 (61) | 113 (61) | |||||
| Induced menopause (%) | 45 (20) | 55 (30) | 34 (18) | |||||
| Perimenopausal use of hormones (%) versus all others | 11 (5) | 16 (9) | 4 (2) | 0.02 | ||||
| Missing (%) | 2 (1) | 0 (0) | 2 (1) | 0.40 | ||||
| Median age at natural menopause, years [range] | 50 [35–57] | 51 [37–58] | 50 [38–58] | 0.19 | ||||
| Miscarriage or abortion (%) | 56 (25) | 44 (24) | 33 (18) | 0.18 | 32 (18)a | 22 (14)a | 16 (12)a | 0.33a |
| Preterm birth in offspring (%) | 19 (8) | 19 (11) | 20 (11) | 0.67 | 14 (8) | 14 (9) | 13 (10) | 0.82 |
| Perinatal death in offspring (%) | 8 (4) | 3 (2) | 11 (6) | 0.10 | 6 (3) | 3 (2) | 2 (2) | 0.51 |
| Age at first birth, years ± SD | 23.7 ± 4.0 | 23.6 ± 4.4 | 25.0 ± 4.9 | <0.01 | 26.7 ± 4.6 | 27.4 ± 5.1 | 27.1 ± 4.5 | 0.37 |
| Interval between first and second birth, years ± SDb | 3.1 ± 2.5 | 3.1 ± 3.0 | 2.9 ± 2.2 | 0.79 | 2.9 ± 1.7 | 2.8 ± 2.1 | 3.5 ± 2.4 | 0.03 |
| Total number of children, mean ± SD | 2.2 ± 1.2 | 2.2 ± 1.2 | 2.1 ± 1.3 | 0.82 | 2.1 ± 1.2 | 1.9 ± 1.2 | 2.1 ± 1.3 | 0.40 |
Data are shown in mean ± SD, median [range] or n (%).
aMales were asked questions that parallel the questions routinely asked of women.
bOnly calculated for women with two or more live births (n = 176, 142, 139 for famine exposed, time control, sibling control, respectively) and for men who have fathered two or more children (n = 139, 115, 100 for famine exposed, time control, sibling control, respectively). Menopausal status: percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding; induced menopause includes ovariectomy, hysterectomy, chemo- or radiotherapy.