Editing Great Leap Forward (section)

=== Health impacts ===
There is evidence that survivors of the famine suffered sustained negative effects to their long-term health and economic outcomes. Those in early childhood during the famine were impacted the most, and it has been estimated that the 1959 birth cohort would have otherwise grown three centimeters taller in adulthood.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chen |first=Yuyu |date=1 July 2007 |title=The long-term health and economic consequences of the 1959–1961 famine in China |journal=Journal of Health Economics |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=659–681 |doi=10.1016/j.jhealeco.2006.12.006 |pmid=17289187 }}</ref>

Cohorts born during the famine showed higher infant and early life mortality, but exhibit a "mortality crossover" pattern, with mortality rates leveling off or even dropping relative to non-famine cohorts beyond a certain point. This could be explained by the combined effects of initial debilitation, in which malnutrition and hardship increase early deaths, and selection for robustness among famine survivors resulting in fewer later deaths.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Song |first=Shige |year=2010 |title=Mortality consequences of the 1959–1961 Great Leap Forward famine in China: Debilitation, selection, and mortality crossovers |journal=Social Science & Medicine |volume=71 |issue=3 |pages=551–558 |doi=10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.04.034 |pmid=20542611 }}</ref>