what is life course epidemiology?

by Brennon Renner III 10 min read

We have previously defined life course epidemiology as the study of long term effects on later health or disease risk of physical or social exposures during gestation, childhood, adolescence, young adulthood and later adult life.

What is life course theory epidemiology?

Life course epidemiology is the study of long-term biological, behavioral, and psychosocial processes that link adult health and disease risk to physical or social exposures acting during gestation, childhood, adolescence, and earlier or adult life or across generations (Kuh and Ben-Shlomo 2004).

What is meant by life course theory?

The life course perspective or life course theory (LCT) is a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the mental, physical and social health of individuals, which incorporates both life span and life stage concepts that determine the health trajectory.

What is meant by a life course approach to disease?

A person's physical and mental health and wellbeing are influenced throughout life by the wider determinants of health. These are a diverse range of social, economic and environmental factors, alongside behavioural risk factors which often cluster in the population, reflecting real lives.May 23, 2019

What is the life course approach in public health?

In epidemiology, a life course approach is being used to study the physical and social hazards during gestation, childhood, adolescence, young adulthood and midlife that affect chronic disease risk and health outcomes in later life.

What is life course theory example?

The life course approach examines an individual's life history and investigates, for example, how early events influenced future decisions and events such as marriage and divorce, engagement in crime, or disease incidence.

What are the life course stages?

The four stages of the life course are childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age. Socialization continues throughout all these stages.

What epidemiology means?

By definition, epidemiology is the study (scientific, systematic, and data-driven) of the distribution (frequency, pattern) and determinants (causes, risk factors) of health-related states and events (not just diseases) in specified populations (neighborhood, school, city, state, country, global).

Why is a life course approach important?

Adopting the life course approach means identifying key opportunities for minimising risk factors and enhancing protective factors through evidence-based interventions at key life stages, from preconception to early years and adolescence, working age, and into older age.May 23, 2019

What is the life course and why is it important for medical anthropologists?

The life course perspective posits that cumulative and interactive exposures over the life span—including in utero exposures—influence the development of health disparities.

What are life course outcomes?

A “life course” perspective looks at the entire span of life and emphasizes challenges related to quality of life. A public health perspective focuses attention on taking action and measuring impacts at community, state, and national levels rather than on individual clinical treatments.

What is the other term of life course?

The duration of a person's life. lifetime. existence. life. time.