Lay Description
A large amount of research shows that early life plays a vital role in shaping health both during childhood and later in life. A 2019 Health and Social Care Select Committee report highlighted the importance of the first 1,000 days of life—from conception to a child’s second birthday—as a critical period for development of long-term health and life chances.
Factors related to mothers – such as weight, smoking, diet, diabetes, social circumstances, employment and environment – can affect a child’s chances of developing obesity or heart disease later in life. Early research using birth cohort studies shows that the more adverse circumstances a child is exposed to, the higher the risk to their future health. This highlights that improving these transgenerational factors could help prevent obesity and subsequent health problems. The aim of this project is to create a linked database that brings together routine healthcare and educational and social administrative data. This will help improve how well we can predict health outcomes and support better, more timely interventions that improve public health and reduce health gaps between different population groups.
Datasets used will include antenatal care and birth records, pregnancy diagnosis and child records, plus child health records from Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.