‘Fatherless Great War babies lose a year of life’

CHILDREN whose fathers were killed or seriously wounded in World War I had their own lives shortened by a year on average, research has shown.

Life expectancy was reduced by more than two years for those who became fatherless while still in their mother’s womb.

The explanation is still being investigated, but experts believe it to be linked to the effects of psychological stress on the children and their mothers.

According to some experts, much of our susceptibility to disease in adulthood may stem from what happens to us very early in life.

The French study aimed to investigate the potential impact of early negative experiences, or “early life adversities” (ELAs), on children born during World War I.

A team from the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) identified more than 4,000 children born between 1914 and 1916 whose fathers had either been killed in the trenches or severely injured.

Each child was matched with another – a “control” – who was born at the same time in the same district, but did not experience the tragedy of having a war-victim father.

Compared with the control subjects, children whose fathers had been killed or badly wounded in the war lost an average of one year of life expectancy.

The effect was greater for those whose fathers died while their mother was pregnant.