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A Life Course Approach to Chronic Disease Epidemiology

Second Edition

Diana Kuh and Yoav Ben Shlomo


  • From reviews of the previous edition:
  • 'We still have much to learn if disease patterns are to be explained by taking a life course approach… this book provides strong arguments for this approach… the book is a highly qualified starting point for the debate… it will remain a useful summary of pioneer research of huge potential importance for public health.' -Epidemiology
  • 'This is not just another epidemiology textbook. It is essential reading for anyone with an active mind who is interested in public health.' -Journal of Public Health Medicine
  • 'A truly exciting and extremely informative endeavour for anyone interested in the determinants of human health and disease. This discussion is at the core of current public health issues.' -European Journal of Public Health
  • 'The conclusion is of major importance to public health policy. It reinforces the need for a life course strategy, with attention being paid to the mother, baby, child adolescent, and elderly person.' -BMJ
  • 'Provokes thought about the origins of chronic diseases, suggests new approaches to identifying particular susceptible individuals and encourages the identification of optimal points in the life course for possible preventive interventions.' -Chronic Diseases in Canada

The first edition in 1997 of A life course approach to chronic disease epidemiology became a classic text for epidemiological and public health researchers interested in the childhood origins of adult chronic disease. Since then the new field of life course epidemiology has expanded rapidly, attracting the interest not only of academics across the health and social sciences but also policy makers, funding bodies, and the general public. Its purpose is to study how biological and social factors during gestation, childhood, adolescence and earlier adult life independently, cumulatively and interactively influence later life health and disease.

Contributors to this fully revised second edition capture the excitement of the developing field and assess the latest evidence regarding sources of risk to health across the life course and across generations. The original chapters on life course influences on cardiovascular disease, diabetes, blood pressure, respiratory disease and cancer have been updated and extended. New chapters on life course influences on obesity, biological ageing and neuropsychiatric disorders have been added. Life course explanations for disease trends and for socioeconomic differentials in disease risk are given more attention in this new edition, reflecting recent developments in the field. The section on policy implications has been expanded, assessing the role of interventions to improve childhood social circumstances, as well as interventions to improve early growth. Emerging new research themes and the theoretical and methodological challenges facing life course epidemiology are highlighted.


Readership: Epidemiologists, public health researchers, public health policy makers for developed and developing countries, sociologists and biologists, psychiatrists and social and chronic disease epidemiologists
Part I - Background 1. Introduction, Diana Kuh and Yoav Ben-Shlomo 2. The life course and adult chronic disease: an historical perspective with particular reference to coronary heart disease, Diana Kuh and George Davey Smith Part II - Life Course Influences on Adult Chronic Disease 3. Pre-adult influences on cardiovascular disease, Debbie A. Lawlor, Yoav Ben-Shlomo and David A. Leon 4. Life course approaches to socioeconomic differentials in health, George Davey Smith and John Lynch 5. Ischaemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease mortality trends with special reference to England and Wales: are there cohort effects?, Clive Osmond and Rebecca Hardy 6. Geography and migration with special reference to cardiovascular disease, Jonathan Elford and Yoav Ben-Shlomo 7. A life course approach to diabetes, Nita Forouhi, Elizabeth Hall and Paul McKeigue 8. A life course approach to obesity, Matthew W. Gillman 9. A life course approach to blood pressure, Peter Whincup, Derek Cook and Johanna M. Geleijnse 10. A life course approach to respiratory and allergic diseases, David P. Strachan and Aziz Sheikh 11. A life course approach to cancer epidemiology, Nancy Potischman, Rebecca Troisei and Lars Vatten 12. Time trends in cancer incidence and mortality, Isabel dos Santos Silva 13. A life course approach to biological ageing, Avan Aihie Sayer and Cyrus Cooper 14. A life course approach to neuropsychiatric outcomes, Pam Factor-Litvak and Ezra Susser Part III - Biological and Social Processes 15. Fetal growth and development: the role of nutrition and other factors, Ivan J. Perry and L.H. Lumey 16. Socioeconomic pathways between childhood and adult health, Diana Kuh, Chris Power, David Blane and Mel Bartley Part IV - Implications for Policy and Future Research 17. Should we intervene to improve fetal and infant growth?, K.S. Joseph and Michael S. Kramer 18. Should we intervene to improve childhood circumstances?, W. Thomas Boyce and Daniel P. Keating 19. Conclusions, Yoav Ben-Shlomo and Diana Kuh
Diana Kuh and Yoav Ben Shlomo
From reviews of the previous edition: