Earlier published work supports the "Barker hypothesis"

BMJ 1995;310:1468 (3 June)

Letters

Earlier published work supports the "Barker hypothesis"

EDITOR,--Nigel Paneth and Mervyn Susser discuss the fetal andearly life origin of coronary heart disease, referring to the"Barker hypothesis."¹ We acknowledge the important contributionsof Barker and his coworkers. More strongly than previous authors,they have pinpointed the relevance of fetal nourishment to latercoronary risk. Readers of the BMJ should also be aware, however,of the earlier publications by Anders Forsdahl of the Universityof Tromso. In 1973, in a paper published in Norwegian with anEnglish summary, he advanced "the theory that extremely poorsocial conditions during childhood and adolescence can be consideredas risk factors for cardiovascular diseases."² This was morethan 10 years before the paper by Barker and Osmond in 1986.³Since 1977 Forsdahl has published several studies supportinghis hypothesis in international journals.⁴ ⁵ ⁶

Thus we believe that if one person alone is to be given thehonour for the theory that experiences . . . [Full text of this article]

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