Visiting expert supports NZ focus on early years

The Director of one of the world’s longest running and most cited child studies has applauded the report of the Parliamentary Health Committee released in November, which recommended a focus on the period from preconception through the first three years of life to improve child health outcomes and prevent child abuse. The report cited research evidence from the Liggins Institute, the Growing Up in New Zealand longitudinal study and Centre of Research Excellence Gravida: National Centre for Growth and Development, amongst others.

Professor Marjo-Riitta Järvelin is currently visiting the University of Auckland on a Seelye Charitable Trust Fellowship and is hosted by the Liggins Institute.

Marjo-Riitta Järvelin is Professor in Public Health and Lifecourse Epidemiology at Imperial College London and has part-time appointments at both at the National Institute of Health and Welfare and at the University of Oulu in Finland. She directs the widely acknowledged Northern Finland Birth Cohort study which, for nearly half a century, has been collecting data on how genes and the pre-birth environment affect development and health from before birth through childhood, adolescence and adulthood. The study includes physical, clinical, genetic and social information about more than 20,000 subjects born in 2 provinces of Northern Finland in the 1960s (>12,000) and 1980s (>9,000), with data collections continuing to the present day. The most recent information reflects modern technology, adding complex genetic analysis to the wealth of data which have been collected on developmental outcomes. These include data on physical development, general health, neurological and behavioural outcomes and educational achievement.

Professor Järvelin says these long-running data collections underscore the importance of focusing public health initiatives on the period from before conception through to around three years of age. “There are clear links between mothers’ health and social environment and children’s risks of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and some cancers as adults,” she says.

Liggins Institute Director, Professor Wayne Cutfield, says Professor Järvelin’s research aligns strongly with the Institute’s multidisciplinary approach to understanding critical biological processes that occur during development, and how these influence long-term health.

During her visit Professor Järvelin will build and extend collaborations with a number of University of Auckland researchers including those at the Liggins Institute; Gravida: National Centre for Growth and Development; the Growing Up in New Zealand study based at the School of Population Health and the COMPASS (Centre of Methods and Policy Application in Social Sciences) Research Centre in the Faculty of Arts.

She will also meet with members of the Planning Group for the Government-funded ‘Better Start’ National Science Challenge.

“We are looking forward to her insights on how we might build biological research evidence about the early life determinants of adult health and achievement into developing this multi-sectorial programme,” says Professor Cutfield.