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Regular Phenomena of Obesity and Related Diseases Among Adults Born in Different Months: A Meteorologically Related Statistical Report of Residents of Nanjing, China
37 Pages Posted: 25 Oct 2018
More...Abstract
Background: Adult obesity has become a serious human health issue. However, no existing study has explored the relationship between obesity and climatic conditions at the time of birth. To determine whether the birth month and climatic conditions at birth correlate with the prevalence of obesity and obesity-related diseases.
Methods: This observational study included 264,574 Chinese participants. All participants were enrolled between 2008 and 2014 .Initially, 382,325 Chinese participants were selected from a population-based sample, after which 264,574 participants were randomly selected by the complete data and appropriate age. All data were measured by the same observers who were blinded to patient groupings.
Findings: Individuals born in June, July, and August had the lowest risks of obesity and hypertension. Therefore, the prevalence of adult obesity may be significantly affected by climatic conditions during the birth month. Our research indicates a new direction for exploration of the contributions of climatic factors and time of birth to adult obesity.
Interpretation: Participants born in June had the lowest body mass index and prevalence of overweight and obesity among all participants. The highest prevalence of these categories was observed in February and September, which yielded a clear V-type trend curve. Similar trends were observed for obesity-related diseases such as hypertension. Adult obesity correlated linearly with the average temperature, precipitation, and atmospheric pressure of the birth month (P<0·001, R2 =0 ·9459, 0·5408, and 0·8176, respectively).
Funding Statement: National Natural Science Foundation, Jiangsu Province Natural Science Foundation.
Declaration of Interests: The authors have no potential conflicts of interest related to this work.
Ethics Approval Statement: The ethics committee of Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital approved this study (2018-192-01) and informed consent was approved waived from participants.
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