Life Study

Life Study is a new and very important research study that will involve over 80,000 babies born between 2014 and 2018 - and their families from across the UK. Life Study will collect information about these babies over their early lives and childhoods and into adult life. This will help us understand how early life experiences shape health and well... being later on. Has this type of research been done before? In the UK there have been several major research studies similar to Life Study beginning in 1946 and most recently in 2000. Between them these studies have recorded the childhoods and adult lives for different generations growing up in Britain for over 50 years. Babies in the earliest study are now well into their sixties and they continue to help researchers understand the importance of childhood experiences and how making a difference to children's lives today makes a difference to their future lives as adults. Why do we need another study? Life Study will focus on the lives of a new generation. Unlike previous studies, Life Study will start in pregnancy, creating an exciting new opportunity to understand how babies grow and develop from as early as possible. It is also the largest study of its kind so far, which means we will be able to answer some research questions we haven't been able to before now, using smaller studies. How will Life Study make a difference? Life Study will support a wide range of research designed to understand how to give every child the best possible start in life. From the information, measures and samples we collect from Life Study babies and their families, researchers may be able to understand: why some babies develop asthma, eczema and food allergies while others do not how children get ready for learning at school during their preschool years how fathers influence their children's development the impact of air and chemical pollutants in early life which parental leave policies are best for parents with young childrenRead More