Biomedical follow-up of 1958 Birth Cohort Study members at age 60

The increase in human life expectancy over the last century has been one of the greatest achievements in public health. However, it also poses new challenges in health and social care, in particular the increased burden of ill health associated with older age, including cognitive impairment and frailty. Understanding the occurrence of these ageing outcomes and their determinants has become a global research priority with considerable policy implications. Several influential studies have been established in middle- and older-aged populations in the UK and in other countries with the capacity to offer much-needed insights into these issues. It has recently become evident, however, that the processes that underlie ageing states begin much sooner in the life course than originally thought, in some cases as early as birth or preconception. It is in such studies that cover the lifespan that the UK excels. The 1958 Birth Cohort Study in the UK is the largest long-running study of this type. Its study members are approaching 60 years of age, when problems of ageing typically begin to emerge. We will therefore carry out a detailed survey which captures key domains of healthy ageing incorporating multiple dimensions of health (for example, cardiometabolic, cognitive, and physical health) combined with genetic and environmental factors that have been collected across the lifetime of the cohort. Uniquely, this new information will allow us to answer a series of important research questions of public health importance. These include the role of infection in early life in CVD, explaining why individuals remain undiagnosed or inadequately treated for CVD and diabetes, the extent to which CVD risk in early older age can be reversed by physical activity initiated in midlife, how physical function and co-ordination in childhood are related to physical function measures at age 60, and whether the duration and quality of employment over the lifetime is protective of cognitive decline. We will also be able to run a series cross-cohort comparisons, to allow us to highlight where such disease and ageing processes are changing across generations. These data will become publically available to scientists soon after collection, so providing an unparalleled resource for the scientific community to investigate a range of policy-relevant issues. This improved understanding will ultimately lead to changes in individual behaviour and improvements in public policy and professional practice that will lead to better public health and healthier longer lives. In summary, what affects health and how fast we age was originally thought to be a result of what we did as adults, such as how much we smoked, drank, exercised, and our weight, as well as our genes. Research is now beginning to show that factors in our childhood may also have an impact on later illness and ageing. Financial help from the Medical Research Council will allow us to track the health of people who were born in the 1950s in the UK as they reach 60 years of age, to show how lifelong factors affect how we age, and to recommend policies that will improve the health of the older population.