Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
submittedVersion
Publication Date
10-2017
Abstract
We report evidence of long-term adverse health impacts of fetal malnutrition exposure of middle-aged survivors of the 1959-1961 China Famine using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. We find that fetal exposure to malnutrition has large and long-lasting impacts on both physical health and cognitive abilities, including the risks of suffering a stroke, physical disabilities in speech, walking and vision, and measures of mental acuity even half a century after the tragic event. Our findings imply that policies and programs that improve the nutritional status of pregnant women yield benefits on the health of a fetus that extend through the life cycle in the form of reduced physical and mental impairment.
Keywords
China Famine, Fetal origin hypothesis, Health, Malnutrition
Discipline
Health Economics
Research Areas
Applied Microeconomics
Publication
Health Economics
Volume
26
Issue
10
First Page
1264
Last Page
1277
ISSN
1099-1050
Identifier
10.1002/hec.3397
Publisher
Wiley
Citation
KIM, Seonghoon; FLEISHER, Belton; and SUN, Jessica Ya.
The long-term health effects of fetal malnutrition: Evidence from the 1959-1961 China Great Leap Forward Famine. (2017). Health Economics. 26, (10), 1264-1277.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soe_research/1934
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.3397