Prenatal Exposure to 1918 Flu Linked to Heart Disease

Men who were in utero during the peak of the 1918-1919 flu pandemic were at increased risk of heart disease when they reached their 60s and beyond.  Caleb Finch, from University of Southern California (USA), and colleagues found that the rate of heart disease in those men stood more than 23% higher than among those whose mothers were not pregnant during the pandemic's virulent phase in the fall of 1918.  The researchers observed that the main factor in the increase was a 32.7% rise in the rate of ischemic disease.  The team posits that: “These findings suggest novel roles for maternal infections in the fetal programming of cardiovascular risk factors that are independent of maternal malnutrition.”