“The First World War was a historical experiment for early-life stress. Fathers of hundreds of thousands of children of all ages were killed during the conflict. The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease hypothesis predicts long-term effects of early-life stress. (The authors) collected historical data on French orphans born 1914–1916 and their fathers’ military records and compared the orphans’ mortality in adulthood (age 31–99 y) with that of matched non orphans. (They) found a strong decrease in lifespan, reflecting increased mortality before age 65 y, in persons whose fathers died before, not after, their birth. These results support the notion that maternal psychological stress in pregnancy decreases adult longevity in offspring.”

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Todd N, Valleron A-J and Bougnères P: Prenatal loss of father during World War One is predictive of a reduced lifespan in adulthood. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA [Epub ahead of print, April 4, 2017; doi:10.1073/pnas.1617911114].

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28377521