Research tracks destiny of NZ kids

New Zealand researchers plan to study several thousand children from before birth to early adulthood to find the factors influencing disease and developmental problems.

On the model of the BBC television series Child of Our Time, they hope to build a picture of the development of New Zealand children's health, educational attainment, social adjustment and behaviour.

A preliminary trial starts in two weeks with about 200 families in Auckland. If the six-week trial succeeds, the study will expand to cover several thousand children and their families over 25 years.

This is a relatively new field of research that looks beyond traditional hereditary and lifestyle influences to the role "early life events" play in health.

A leading New Zealand practitioner says the study has the potential to change the "biological and medical destiny" of future generations.

The results are expected to build on the findings of two internationally acclaimed longitudinal studies started in Dunedin and Christchurch in the 1970s. The Dunedin study involving nearly 1000 children born there in the early 1970s and the study in Christchurch have produced information ranging from dental and cardiovascular health to sexual and violent behaviour.

Auckland University's Dr Susan Morton, who is leading the new study's development, said it would be a first for New Zealand.

"We now understand from a lot of the research how critically important that development is prior to birth - not only from birth - and how important the influence across generations is on children's development through early life and into adulthood. It's looking very much at the physical, emotional and social health of the children and their families, and the context of [their] environment."

It would build on the Dunedin study in a way that acknowledged New Zealand was different now than in the 1970s.

Conditions at birth, such as prematurity, would be taken into account, along with social shifts such as multi-culturalism, new technologies and mass media.

The $1 million preliminary trial, sponsored by the Ministry of Social Development and Health Research Council, will see pregnant women approached to take part by their doctors, midwives, or obstetricians. The results will enable the Government to decide whether to fund the study.

The influence of conditions early in life on long-term health is a focus of the Liggins Institute at Auckland University. Its director, Professor Peter Gluckman, said the study would address some of the factors that would indicate right from birth if a child was at risk from diseases such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

"If we can do that, then we can use some of our knowledge to try to change that destiny in future groups of children."