Table 1.
Basic characteristics of study population according to exposure to the Chinese famine
| Variables | Non-exposed group | Fetal-exposed group | Infant-exposed group | Preschool-exposed group | p Value |
| Birth date | 10/1/1962– 9/30/1964 |
10/1/1959– 9/30/1961 |
19581/1/– 12/31/1958 |
1/1/1956- 12/31/1957 |
|
| N | 1536 | 834 | 518 | 1247 | |
| Age in 2011 (years) | 47~49 | 50~51 | 53 | 54~55 | |
| Born in severely affected area, n (%) | 657 (42.8) | 269 (32.3) | 192 (37.1) | 482 (38.7) | p<0.001 |
| Women, n (%) | 801 (52.2) | 438 (52.6) | 241 (46.5) | 614 (49.3) | p=0.067 |
| Smoking, n (%) | p=0.014 | ||||
| Never | 970 (66.4) | 519 (65.1) | 297 (61.4) | 711 (59.8) | |
| Former | 80 (5.5) | 36 (4.5) | 28 (5.8) | 77 (6.5) | |
| Current | 410 (28.1) | 242 (30.4) | 159 (32.9) | 400 (33.7) | |
| Drinking, n (%) | p=0.614 | ||||
| Never | 948 (61.8) | 513 (61.6) | 320 (61.9) | 787 (63.2) | |
| Less than once per month | 155 (10.1) | 82 (9.8) | 53 (10.3) | 100 (8.0) | |
| More than once per month | 430 (28.0) | 238 (28.6) | 144 (27.9) | 359 (28.8) | |
| Family income, n (%) | p=0.960 | ||||
| High | 199 (54.4) | 115 (53.5) | 65 (52.4) | 143 (52.4) | |
| Low | 167 (45.6) | 100 (46.5) | 59 (47.6) | 130 (47.6) | |
| Education, n (%) | p=0.390 | ||||
| Primary school and below | 695 (89.7) | 396 (89.8) | 246 (88.8) | 567 (92.5) | |
| Junior school | 40 (5.2) | 27 (6.1) | 16 (5.8) | 25 (4.1) | |
| High school | 31 (4.0) | 12 (2.7) | 10 (3.6) | 19 (3.1) | |
| College and above | 9 (1.2) | 6 (1.4) | 5 (1.8) | 2 (0.3) | |
| Prevalence of chronic lung disease (%) | 6.1 | 6.5 | 7.9 | 6.8 | p=0.511 |