Publications by authors named "Indik C"
Article Synopsis
- Natural-experiment designs show that in-utero famine can lead to obesity, but birth rates drop during famines, raising concerns about possible selection bias in these studies.
- The researchers studied the Dutch Hunger Winter Families Study, comparing genetically analyzed participants exposed to the 1944-1945 Dutch Famine to unexposed same-sex siblings as controls.
- Their findings indicated that while higher genetic risk was linked to higher BMI, the difference between famine-exposed and control participants' BMI was negligible, suggesting no significant selection bias and supporting the credibility of their research method.
Natural-experiment designs that compare survivors of in-utero famine exposure to unaffected controls suggest that in-utero undernutrition predisposes to development of obesity. However, birth rates drop dramatically during famines. Selection bias could arise if factors that contribute to obesity also protect fertility and/or fetal survival under famine conditions.
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