Health visitors' and nurses' role in the 65-year follow-up of an early post-war birth cohort.

This paper describes a national birth cohort study of influences on health, development and ageing processes throughout life, so far to age 65 years. It began as an early post-war study of maternity in England, Wales and Scotland two years before the NHS began, and continued as a follow-up study of a large sample (5362) of those births. The study has influenced scientific and policy thinking by showing the relationships of children's physical and mental development and home background with many aspects of health and life chances throughout their life, including the processes of physical and mental ageing.

Dietary fibre and phytate--a balancing act: results from three time points in a British birth cohort.

An investigation was carried out to determine whether there were significant changes in the intake of dietary fibre (NSP) and phytate of adult men and women in the UK from 1982 (aged 36 years) to 1999 (aged 53 years). The 1253 subjects studied were members of the Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development; a longitudinal study of a nationally representative cohort of births in 1946. Food intake was recorded in a 5 d diary at age 36 years in 1982, 43 years in 1989 and 53 years in 1999.

Do childhood cognitive ability or smoking behaviour explain the influence of lifetime socio-economic conditions on premature adult mortality in a British post war birth cohort?

Poor childhood and adult socio-economic conditions, lower childhood cognitive ability and cigarette smoking are all associated with adult mortality risk. Using data on 4458 men and women aged 60 years from a British birth cohort study, we investigated the extent to which these risk factors are part of the same pathway linking childhood experience to adult survival. Compared with women from non-manual origins, men from non-manual origins, women and men from manual origins, and those with missing data on father's social class had about double the risk of mortality between 26 and 60 years.

Birth weight and risk of type 2 diabetes: a systematic review.

Context: Low birth weight is implicated as a risk factor for type 2 diabetes. However, the strength, consistency, independence, and shape of the association have not been systematically examined.

Objective: To conduct a quantitative systematic review examining published evidence on the association of birth weight and type 2 diabetes in adults.

Early motherhood and mental health in midlife: a study of British and American cohorts.

Objectives: Examine the relationship between early age at first birth and mental health among women in their fifties.

Methods: Analysis of data on women from a British 1946 birth cohort study and the U.S.

Psychiatric outcomes 10 years after treatment with antidepressants or anxiolytics.

Background: Antidepressants and anxiolytics have demonstrated short-term efficacy; however, little is known about the long-term effectiveness of these drugs.

Aims: To investigate long-term psychiatric outcomes following antidepressant and/or anxiolytic use during an episode of mental disorder in mid-life.

Method: Members of the 1946 British birth cohort were assessed for symptoms of depression and anxiety at age 43.

Does initial breastfeeding lead to lower blood cholesterol in adult life? A quantitative review of the evidence.

Background: Earlier studies have suggested that infant feeding may program long-term changes in cholesterol metabolism.

Objective: We aimed to examine whether breastfeeding is associated with lower blood cholesterol concentrations in adulthood.

Design: The study consisted of a systematic review of published observational studies relating initial infant feeding status to blood cholesterol concentrations in adulthood (ie, aged >16 y).

Effect of breastfeeding and sociodemographic factors on visual outcome in childhood and adolescence.

Background: It has been suggested that early life factors, including breastfeeding and birth weight, program childhood myopia.

Objective: We examined the relation of reduced unaided vision (indicative of myopia) in childhood and adolescence with infant feeding, parental education, maternal age at birth, birth weight, sex, birth order, and socioeconomic status.

Design: Three British cohorts recruited infants born in 1946 (n = 5362), 1958 (n = 18,558), and 1970 (n = 16,567).

Etiology of chronic fatigue syndrome: testing popular hypotheses using a national birth cohort study.

Objective: To review the etiology of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and test hypotheses relating to immune system dysfunction, physical deconditioning, exercise avoidance, and childhood illness experiences, using a large prospective birth cohort.

Methods: A total of 4779 participants from the Medical Research Council's National Survey of Health and Development were prospectively followed for the first 53 years of their life with >20 separate data collections. Information was collected on childhood and parental health, atopic illness, levels of physical activity, fatigue, and participant's weight and height at multiple time points.

Factors associated with antidepressant, anxiolytic and hypnotic use over 17 years in a national cohort.

Background: In the general population, most individuals with mental disorders are not treated with psychotropic medications. The objective of this study was to identify factors associated with psychotropic medication use over a 17 year period in a birth cohort.

Method: Members of the 1946 British birth cohort (n=2,928 in 1999) reported psychotropic medication use in 1982 at age 36, in 1989 at age 43, and in 1999 at age 53.

Does Adolescent Affect Impact Adult Social Integration? Evidence from the British 1946 Birth Cohort.

Using data from the MRC National Survey of Health and Development (the British 1946 birth cohort), we take a life course approach with a sociology of mental health framework to examine the relationship between adolescent affect and adult social integration. The results suggest that being observed as anxious or sad in adolescence has long-term effect on adult social integration. These associations are not explained by adult mental health or socioeconomic status, for the most part.

The continuing benefits of education: adult education and midlife cognitive ability in the British 1946 birth cohort.

Objective: Evidence shows education positively impacts cognitive ability. However, researchers have given little attention to the potential impact of adult education on cognitive ability, still malleable in midlife. The primary study aim was to examine whether there were continuing effects of education over the life course on midlife cognitive ability.

A longitudinal typology of symptoms of depression and anxiety over the life course.

Background: Little is known about long-term profiles of depressive and anxious symptomatology over the life course and about the developmental determinants of different trajectories. The objective of this study was to identify a novel typology of symptoms of depression and anxiety over the life course and examine its neurodevelopmental antecedents in an epidemiological sample.

Methods: A longitudinal latent variable analysis was conducted on measures of anxious and depressive symptoms at ages 13, 15, 36, 43, and 53 years among 4627 members of the Medical Research Council National Survey of Health & Development (the British 1946 birth cohort).

Childhood cognitive ability and adult mental health in the British 1946 birth cohort.

We examined whether childhood cognitive ability was associated with two mental health outcomes at age 53 years: the 28 item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) as a measure of internalising symptoms of anxiety and depression, and the CAGE screen for potential alcohol abuse as an externalising disorder. A total of 1875 participants were included from the Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development, also known as the British 1946 birth cohort. The results indicated that higher childhood cognitive ability was associated with reporting fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression GHQ-28 scores in women, and increased risk of potential alcohol abuse in both men and women.

Life course body size and lipid levels at 53 years in a British birth cohort.

Objectives: To investigate the association between growth in height and change in body mass index (BMI) during the life course on lipid levels at 53 years.

Methods: 2311 men and women from a British cohort study were included in analyses. Non-fasting total, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels were measured at 53 years.

Improvements in social functioning reported by a birth cohort in mid-adult life: A person-centred analysis of GHQ-28 social dysfunction items using latent class analysis.

The General Health Questionnaire is widely used to measure the health status of individuals. Most studies have focused on traditional score values for one or more dimensions of psychopathology. We introduce a new analysis model that is person-centred and uses a latent structure approach to group individuals by a discrete latent variable.

Social circumstances and education: life course origins of social inequalities in metabolic risk in a prospective national birth cohort.

Objectives: We investigated the relative importance of education and childhood and adult social class in the risk of metabolic syndrome.

Methods: We conducted a prospective birth cohort study of 1311 men and 1318 women aged 53 years in 1999, when metabolic syndrome components were measured. Logistic regression analyses were used to calculate relative index of inequality estimates.

Psychometric evaluation and predictive validity of Ryff's psychological well-being items in a UK birth cohort sample of women.

Background: Investigations of the structure of psychological well-being items are useful for advancing knowledge of what dimensions define psychological well-being in practice. Ryff has proposed a multidimensional model of psychological well-being and her questionnaire items are widely used but their latent structure and factorial validity remains contentious.

Methods: We applied latent variable models for factor analysis of ordinal/categorical data to a 42-item version of Ryff's psychological well-being scales administered to women aged 52 in a UK birth cohort study (n = 1,179).

Three decades of antidepressant, anxiolytic and hypnotic use in a national population birth cohort.

Background: Psychotropic medication use is common and increasing. Use of such drugs at the individual level over long periods has not been reported.

Aims: To describe antidepressant, anxiolytic and hypnotic drug use, and associations between such medication use and common mental disorder, over a 22-year period.

Consent for the use of personal medical data in research.

Properly obtained consent is needed for all clinical trials, yet one size doesn't necessarily fit all. This article looks at different consent models and emphasises the need to support choice rather than just observing the formalities of “gaining consent”

Developmental origins of midlife grip strength: findings from a birth cohort study.

Background: There is growing evidence that the prenatal environment has long-term effects on adult grip strength, but little is known about the effects of the postnatal environment. We tested whether prepubertal growth, pubertal growth, or the development of motor and cognitive capabilities was associated with midlife muscle strength independently of other determinants of grip strength.

Methods: Handgrip strength and body size were measured in a representative British sample of 1406 men and 1444 women 53 years old with prospective childhood data.

Childhood socioeconomic status predicts physical functioning a half century later.

Background: Socioeconomic status (SES) affects health outcomes at all stages of life. Relating childhood socioeconomic environment to midlife functional status provides a life course perspective on childhood factors associated with poor and good health status later in life.

Methods: The British 1946 birth cohort was prospectively evaluated with periodic examinations from birth through age 53 years, when physical performance tests assessing strength, balance, and rising from a chair were administered.

Developmental origins of midlife physical performance: evidence from a British birth cohort.

The authors hypothesized that 1) physical growth, as a marker of the early development of muscle fibers, and 2) advanced childhood motor and cognitive abilities, as markers of central nervous system development, would be positively related to midlife standing balance and chair rising, independently of later life experiences. They tested these hypotheses in a representative British sample of 1,374 men and 1,410 women aged 53 years in 1999 with prospective childhood measures of heights and weights, age at first standing and walking, cognitive ability, and motor coordination. Weight gain before age 7 years was positively related to adult performance in men but not women, independently of later body size, social class, physical activity, and health status.

Cognitive function across the life course and the menopausal transition in a British birth cohort.

Objective: Despite biological plausibility, relationships between menopause and cognitive function are inconsistent. We investigated whether menopause status and menopause age were associated with general cognitive ability, verbal memory, and visual search speed and concentration in a large cohort of women while considering vasomotor and psychological symptoms, previous childhood and adult measures of cognitive function, lifetime socioeconomic circumstances, educational attainment, lifestyle factors, and chronic diseases.

Design: A nationally representative British cohort of 1261 women born in March 1946 and all aged 53 years at cognitive testing, with prospective information on previous cognitive function, menopausal characteristics, and potential confounders.