In one of the first papers on the impact of early-life conditions on individuals’ health in older age, Barker and Osmond [ Lancet , 327 , 1077–1081 (1986)] show a strong positive relationship between infant mortality rates in the 1920s and ischemic heart disease in the 1970s. We merge historical data on infant mortality rates to 370,000 individual records in the UK Biobank using information on local area and year of birth. We replicate the association between the early-life infant mortality rate and later-life ischemic heart disease in our sample. We then go “beyond Barker,” by showing considerable genetic heterogeneity in this association that is robust to within-area as well as within-family analyses. We find no association between the polygenic index and heart disease in areas with the lowest infant mortality rates, but a strong positive relationship in areas characterized by high infant mortality. These findings suggest that advantageous environments can cushion one’s genetic disease risk.

中文翻译：

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有利的早期生命环境可降低缺血性心脏病的遗传风险


Barker 和 Osmond 在第一篇关于生命早期状况对老年人健康影响的论文中 [ Lancet , 327 , 1077–1081 (1986)] 表明 20 世纪 20 年代的婴儿死亡率与 20 世纪 20 年代的婴儿死亡率之间存在很强的正相关关系。 20世纪70年代缺血性心脏病。我们使用当地区域和出生年份的信息，将婴儿死亡率的历史数据合并到英国生物银行的 370,000 条个人记录中。我们在样本中复制了早期婴儿死亡率与晚年缺血性心脏病之间的关联。然后，我们通过显示这种关联中相当大的遗传异质性来“超越巴克”，这种关联对于区域内和家庭内的分析都是稳健的。我们发现，在婴儿死亡率最低的地区，多基因指数与心脏病之间没有关联，但在婴儿死亡率高的地区，多基因指数与心脏病之间存在很强的正相关关系。这些发现表明，有利的环境可以减轻一个人患遗传病的风险。