Prenatal famine exposure is an important risk factor for developing addiction in later life

Abstract

Prenatal exposure to severe famine has been associated with an increased risk of schizophrenia and affective disorders. We studied the morbidity risk for addiction in persons being exposed to famine during gestation in the Dutch hunger winter of 1944-45 in a case control study. For each trimester of gestation the birth ratio of patients and inhabitants prenatal exposed to the famine was compared to the ratio of patients and inhabitants born in the same period in the subsequent year. Our findings indicate that the first trimester gestational exposure to the famine period significantly increased the probability of developing addiction in later life in male individuals (OR=1,62; 1,18 - 2,74; p<0.01). In addition to the time and gender specific effects on the vulnerability for schizophrenia and affective spectrum disorder during gestation a similar effect seems to exist for addiction disorders as another indication for the disastrous influence of severe malnutrition on brain development and maturation.