Institute for Advancement of Clinical and Translational Science (iACT), Kyoto University Hospital, Kyoto, 606-8507, Japan.
Department of Biostatistics and Health Data Science, Graduate School of Medical Science, Nagoya City University, Nagoya, 467-8601, Japan.
Naturwissenschaften. 2024 Oct 7;111(6):55. doi: 10.1007/s00114-024-01933-5.
Prior research has indicated a correlation between the birth season and life expectancy; however, many of these studies did not sufficiently account for comorbidities. In this comprehensive investigation, we aimed to meticulously explore the association between the birth month and life expectancy, giving due consideration to comorbidities. We used a robust dataset derived from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database (2000-2013), which allowed us to conduct a thorough examination. We divided our participants into four groups based on their season of birth: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Propensity score matching was used to ensure an equitable distribution of demographic and clinical characteristics across the groups. Propensity scores were computed using logistic regression. Our model incorporated a broad range of demographic factors and comorbidities, providing rigorous adjustment for potential confounders. Our findings revealed a significantly increased risk of all-cause mortality among individuals born in spring, even after stringent adjustment for demographic factors and comorbidities. People born in spring demonstrated a 1.05-fold increase in the risk of all-cause mortality, with a hazard ratio of 1.05 and a 95% confidence interval of 1.01-1.09. Our study provides compelling evidence that helps understand the potential long-term impacts of a person's birth season, which acts as a proxy for pregnancy / early-life environmental exposure, on life expectancy. These findings underscore the crucial need for additional research to illuminate the underlying biological and environmental mechanisms linking the birth season and lifespan of a person. The elucidation of these links could guide the development of innovative health promotion and disease prevention strategies that are tailored to an individual's birth season.
先前的研究表明出生季节与预期寿命之间存在相关性；然而，许多这些研究并没有充分考虑到合并症。在这项全面的研究中，我们旨在细致地探究出生月份与预期寿命之间的关联，充分考虑合并症。我们使用了来自台湾全民健康保险研究数据库（2000-2013 年）的强大数据集，这使我们能够进行彻底的检查。我们根据出生季节将参与者分为四组：春季、夏季、秋季和冬季。使用倾向评分匹配来确保各组之间在人口统计学和临床特征方面的均衡分布。使用逻辑回归计算倾向得分。我们的模型纳入了广泛的人口统计学因素和合并症，为潜在混杂因素提供了严格的调整。我们的研究结果表明，即使在严格调整人口统计学因素和合并症后，春季出生的个体全因死亡率的风险显著增加。春季出生的人全因死亡率的风险增加了 1.05 倍，风险比为 1.05，95%置信区间为 1.01-1.09。我们的研究提供了令人信服的证据，有助于理解一个人的出生季节（作为妊娠/生命早期环境暴露的替代指标）对预期寿命的潜在长期影响。这些发现强调了需要进一步研究来阐明出生季节与个体寿命之间联系的潜在生物学和环境机制的迫切需要。阐明这些联系可以指导制定针对个体出生季节的创新健康促进和疾病预防策略。
