Life course epidemiology and analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. 275-288
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Rose Mayeda ◽  
Alexandra M. Binder ◽  
Lindsay C. Kobayashi
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Epidemiologic Research ◽  
Life Course Epidemiology ◽  
Human Lifespan ◽  
Innovative Methods ◽  
Life Course Approach ◽  
Disease Aetiology ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
Analytical Approaches

Life course epidemiology approaches disease aetiology and prevention from the perspective of risk and protective factors that influence health and disease throughout the lifespan. The integration of a life course approach to epidemiologic research is central for identifying effective policies and programmes to promote population health and health equity. This chapter will introduce life course concepts and models and analytical approaches for research on life course determinants of health. It will discuss threats to causal inference, approaches for overcoming these difficulties, and future directions in life course epidemiology. For example, in addition to expanding epidemiologic research with a life course perspective to include people with diverse life experiences, new areas of development include life course research extending beyond one human lifespan to include intergenerational and transgenerational life course research, as well as the application of innovative methods.

scholarly journals Do the concepts of “life course approach” and “developmental origins of health and disease” underpin current maternity care? Study protocol

2019 ◽  
Vol 147 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chandni Maria Jacob ◽  
Wendy T. Lawrence ◽  
Hazel M. Inskip ◽  
Fionnuala M. McAuliffe ◽  
Sarah Louise Killeen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Study Protocol ◽  
Maternity Care ◽  
Developmental Origins ◽  
Life Course Approach ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
Care Study

scholarly journals Metabolomics in the developmental origins of obesity and its cardiometabolic consequences

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. F. Hivert ◽  
W. Perng ◽  
S. M. Watkins ◽  
C. S. Newgard ◽  
L. C. Kenny ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Developmental Origins ◽  
Excess Adiposity ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Analytical Approaches ◽  
Review Current

In this review, we discuss the potential role of metabolomics to enhance understanding of obesity-related developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD). We first provide an overview of common techniques and analytical approaches to help interested investigators dive into this relatively novel field. Next, we describe how metabolomics may capture exposures that are notoriously difficult to quantify, and help to further refine phenotypes associated with excess adiposity and related metabolic sequelae over the life course. Together, these data can ultimately help to elucidate mechanisms that underlie fetal metabolic programming. Finally, we review current gaps in knowledge and identify areas where the field of metabolomics is likely to provide insights into mechanisms linked to DOHaD in human populations.

Lo sviluppo dell'epidemiologia del life course

2009 ◽  
pp. 171-189
Author(s):  
David Blane ◽  
Juliet Stone ◽  
Gopal Netuveli
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Birth Cohort ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Life Course Epidemiology ◽  
Accumulation Model ◽  
Socio Economic Status ◽  
Life Course Approach ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Life Course

- The present paper reviews the development of life course epidemiology since its origins during the 1990s from biological programming, birth cohort research and the study of health inequalities. Methods of studying the life course are examined, including birth cohort studies, linked register datasets and epidemiological archaeology. Three models of life course epidemiology are described: critical periods, accumulation, and pathways. Their conceptual and empirical differentiation can be difficult, but it is argued that accumulation is the underlying social process driving life course trajectories, while the critical period and pathway models are distinguished by their concern with specific types of aetiological process. Among the advantages of the accumulation model are predictive power, aetiological insights, contributions to health inequality debates and social policy implications. It is emphasised that the life course approach is not opposed to, or an alternative to, a concern with cross-sectional and current effects; major social disruption can have a large and immediate impact on health. Other limitations of the life course approach include a spectrum of impact (life course effects can be strong in relation to physiology, but often are weaker in relation to behaviour and psychological reactions to everyday life) and, more speculatively, the possibility that life course effects are diluted in the older age groups where morbidity and mortality are highest. Three issues for the future of life course epidemiology are identified. Many life course data are collected retrospectively. We need to know which items of information are recalled with what degree of accuracy over how many decades; and what methods of collecting these retrospective data maximise accuracy and duration. Second, the two partners in life course research need to take more seriously each other's disciplines. Social scientists need to be more critical of such measures as self-assessed health, which lacks an aetiology and hence biological plausibility. Natural scientists need to be more critical of such concepts as socio-economic status, which lacks social plausibility because it fails to distinguish between social location and social prestige. Finally, European comparative studies can play an important part in the future development of life course epidemiology if they build on the emerging infrastructure of European comparative research. Key words: life course epidemiology, life course trajectories, life course data, social inequalities, accumulation model, socio-economic status. Parole chiave: epidemiologia del corso di vita, traiettorie di vita, dati del corso di vita, disuguaglianze sociali, modello di accumulazione, status socio-economico

scholarly journals OLDER WOMEN'S EXPERIENCES OF AGING: THE PHYSICAL, THE PSYCHOLOGICAL, AND THE SOCIAL

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S212-S213
Author(s):  
Nicky J Newton
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Life Transitions ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Social Aspects ◽  
Major Life ◽  
Life Course Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
Qualitative Interview Study ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Major Life Transitions

Abstract According to the life course perspective (Settersten, 2003), major life transitions are embedded in contexts shaped by personal history and social circumstances “as natural as the changing seasons” (Miller, 2010, p.663). Aging itself is perhaps the epitome of all transitions: a relatively measured movement through a series of situations, conditions, and social roles (Hettich, 2010); a transition that particularly lends itself to a life course approach. In this qualitative interview study, 37 women (Mage = 72.27) responded to questions regarding their experiences of the physical, psychological and social aspects of aging. While themes of inevitability and physical health were evident, the highly-personalized nature of aging was also underscored through individual themes of invisibility, freedom from expectations, fear of cognitive decline, and the quality and maintenance of friendships. Similarities and differences in women’s experience of aging are compared; the need to contextualize aging within the life course is discussed.

scholarly journals Flexicurity in a life-course perspective

2004 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 282-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ute Klammer
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Time Allocation ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Main Section ◽  
The Third ◽  
Life Course Approach ◽  
Part Time ◽  
The Life Course

This article extends the analysis of flexicurity to take account of the life-course perspective; in the international flexicurity debate such an approach has so far not been systematically taken. The article focuses on the question of what options will be needed for time allocation in different phases of life and over the whole life of an individual, and what financial resources could be combined to finance those phases. The first section discusses methodological and conceptual issues related to flexicurity and the life course. In the second section, longitudinal data from Germany is presented to illustrate some of the relevant patterns of, and changes within, life courses. The third and main section deals with policy implications. Four crucial objectives of a flexicurity policy based on a life-course approach are identified, and a range of options to improve flexibility and security over the lifetime are discussed. These options include measures to increase time sovereignty, subsidised part-time schemes for care and lifelong learning, the use of accumulated pension savings to finance other activities during the course of working life, and the role of minimum provision in social security schemes.

Suicide, Life Course, and Life Story

1995 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bertram J. Cohler ◽  
Michael J. Jenuwine
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Late Life ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Psychological Autopsy ◽  
Life Course Approach ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
Narrative Methodology ◽  
Off Time

This article explores how a life-course perspective and narrative methodology can be used to study risk factors for late-life suicide. A life-course approach to aging and suicide requires consideration of age as both social and personal construction. “On-” and “off-time” events and their impact on adjustmenta are used to illustrate these social and personal constructions. Cohort, period, and histrorical events have potentially profound effects on risk for suicide, yet the study of these effects is difficult because they are so often confounded in longitudinal study. Lifelong personality characteristics that are not life-threatening in earlier life may be of greater risk in later life depending on life circumstances such as physical dependencies. A life-story or narrative approach offers an alternative method for incorporating these complicated factors when studying late-life suicide. The psychological autopsy can be considered a type of “narrative” used by various individuals to gain understanding about a suicide.

scholarly journals Polycystic ovarian syndrome: need for life course approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (7) ◽  
pp. 2808
Author(s):  
Neha Dahiya ◽  
Aakanksha Bharti ◽  
Kritika Vats ◽  
Damodar Bachani
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome ◽  
Multidisciplinary Treatment ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Androgen Excess ◽  
Life Course Approach ◽  
Reproductive Disorder ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Psychological Features ◽  
Ovarian Syndrome

Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is one of the leading but treatable causes of infertility among women. PCOS is a heterogeneous condition therefore it involves multiple disciplines and there is a wide research and clinical agenda. The prevalence of PCOS in India among 15-24 year old adolescents and young girls was found by Rotterdam criteria to be 22.5% and by Androgen Excess Society criteria to be 10.7%. Earlier it was considered only as a reproductive disorder but now it includes metabolic and psychological features as well. Under diagnosis of PCOS remains to be problematic. This is a complex syndrome and has an influence throughout the lifespan and requires multidisciplinary treatment approach as well as self-management. The life course approach or life course theory or the life course perspective was explored in 1960’s. In this approach individual's lives are analyzed within structural, social, and cultural contexts.

scholarly journals A narrative synthesis scoping review of life course domains within health service utilisation frameworks

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary-Ann O'Donovan ◽  
Phillip McCallion ◽  
Mary McCarron ◽  
Louise Lynch ◽  
Hasheem Mannan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Service ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Health Service Utilisation ◽  
World Health ◽  
Service Utilisation ◽  
Life Course Approach ◽  
Behavioural Model ◽  
The Life Course

Background: Current thinking in health recognises the influence of early life experiences (health and otherwise) on later life outcomes. The life course approach has been embedded in the work of the World Health Organisation since the Ageing and Health programme was established in 1995. Yet there has been limited debate on the relevancy of a life course lens to understanding health service utilisation. Aim: The aim of the review was twofold. Firstly, identify existing healthcare utilisation frameworks other than the dominant Andersen’s behavioural model currently in use. Secondly, to identify if current frameworks incorporate the advocated life course perspective in understanding health service utilisation.     Methods: A scoping review of PubMed, Cinahl Plus, Emerald, PsycINFO, Web of Knowledge and Scopus was conducted. Data extraction used a framework approach with meta-synthesis guided by the four domains of the life course proposed by Elder (1979): human agency, location, temporality and relationships, and interdependencies. Results: A total of 551 papers were identified, with 70 unique frameworks (other than Andersen’s Behavioural Model) meeting the inclusion criteria and included in the review. Conclusion: To date there has been limited explicit discussion of health service utilisation from a life course perspective. The current review highlights a range of frameworks that draw on aspects of the life course, but have been used with this perspective in mind. The life course approach highlights important gaps in understanding and assessing health service utilisation (HSU), such as utilisation over time. HSU is a complex phenomenon and applying a structured framework from a life course perspective would be of benefit to researchers, practitioners and policy makers.

scholarly journals Becoming a refugee. A life-course approach to migration under duress

Sociologias ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (49) ◽  
pp. 110-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anja Weiß
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
Empirical Reality ◽  
Refugee Convention ◽  
Sociological Approach ◽  
Refugee Protection ◽  
Life Course Approach ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Larger Sample

Abstract This article offers a sociological approach to the ongoing debate about the distinction between refugees and migrants. It adopts a life-course perspective on seeking refuge. Seeking refuge is embedded not only in the legal regimes of refugee protection, but also in other institutional frameworks governing the life-course. Exploring continuities between migrants and refugees allows for a better understanding of whether and under what preconditions the refugee category is applied by administrations and accessed by refugees themselves. With the help of case studies selected strategically from a larger sample of narrative interviews with university educated migrants to Germany, Turkey, and Canada, the article shows how the implementation and administration of the Geneva Refugee Convention in Germany is organized in a manner that often diverges from the empirical reality of fleeing from persecution and lack of protection. On this basis, a broader comparison with migrants in Turkey and Canada who could fall under the Geneva Refugee Convention, but who mostly refrain from claiming asylum, shows that those with better resources and socio-spatial autonomy can, if well informed, find alternative options for gaining protection rather than claiming refugee status. Whether migrants under duress see themselves as refugees and whether they claim asylum does not only result from the persecution they face but also from specificities of legal and administrative frameworks, as well as their position in global structural inequalities and it is related to divergent degrees of socio-spatial autonomy.

scholarly journals What protects older Romanians in Switzerland from loneliness? A life-course perspective

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruxandra Oana Ciobanu ◽  
Tineke Fokkema
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Older Migrants ◽  
Life Course Approach ◽  
Political Refugees ◽  
Hard Times ◽  
And Coping ◽  
Difficult Times

Abstract The topic of loneliness among older migrants has recently gained scholarly interest. There is a particular focus on why older migrants are generally lonelier than their non-migrant peers from the destination. These studies neglect variations both within and between older migrant groups. Our qualitative study is innovative for three reasons. First, it focuses on Romanian migrants aged 65+ who fled communism and aged in place in Switzerland—an understudied population of former political refugees that experiences little or no loneliness in later years. Second, it takes a life-course approach to explore experiences of loneliness during communist Romania, in the context of migration and later in life. Third, it focuses on protective and coping factors rather than risk factors. Having been through hard times in communist Romania—marked by fear and distrust among people and estrangement from society—older Romanian migrants built strength to withstand difficult times, learned to embrace solitude, and/or to relativise current hardships, if any. Upon arrival many founded or joined an association or church, which offers the opportunity to establish a sustainable social network consisting of a large pool of Romanian non-kin with a shared past and experience of migration and integration, to counteract social losses in later life. When moments of loneliness cannot be prevented (e.g. due to death of a spouse), they try to be active to distract from loneliness or ‘simply’ accept the situation. These aspects need to be taken into account in future research and when developing loneliness interventions.

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