We organize health information by life stages to showcase a preventive approach against negative cumulative health impacts over the life course. We begin with preterm births and (maternal) stress during fetal and infant stages; to early life adversities in childhood and adolescence; to seeing how earlier events can impact adulthood; and culminating with how to age in old age.

Fetal

Litt, Jonathan S., Neal Halfon, Michael E. Msall, Shirley Ann. Russ, Susan R. Hintz. “Ensuring Optimal Outcomes for Preterm Infants after NICU Discharge: A Life Course Health Development Approach to High-Risk Infant Follow-Up.” Children (Basel, Switzerland) 2, no. 11 (2024): 10.3390/children11020146. https://doi.org/10.3390/children11020146.

Michelle M. Kelly and Jane Tobias, “Recommendations to optimize life-long health and wellbeing for people born preterm.,” Early human development , no. 162 (2021): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2021.105458.

Bonell, Ana, Vicedo-Cabrera, Ana M., Moirano, Giovenale et al.. “Effect of heat stress in the first 1000 days of life on fetal and infant growth: a secondary analysis of the ENID randomised controlled trial.” The Lancet. Planetary health 10, no. 8 (2024): e734-e743. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(24)00208-0.

Infant

Lahti-Pulkkinen, Marius, Lahdepuro, Anna, Lahti, Jari et al.. “Maternal psychological distress and temperament traits in children from infancy to late childhood.” JCPP advances 3, no. 4 (2024): e12242. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcv2.12242.

Childhood

Grest, Carolina Villamil., Megan Finno-Velasquez, Julie A. Cederbaum, Jennifer B. Unger. “Adverse Childhood Experiences Among 3 Generations of Latinx Youth.” American journal of preventive medicine 1, no. 60 (2021): 20-28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2020.07.007.

King, Wesley M., Nancy L. Fleischer, Don Operario, Linda M. Chatters, Kristi E. Gamarel. “Inequities in the distribution of adverse childhood experiences and their association with health among transgender people of color.” Child abuse & neglect , no. 149 (2024): 106654. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.106654.

Pinot de Moira, Angela and Adnan Custovic. “Social inequalities in childhood asthma.” The World Allergy Organization journal 12, no. 17 (2024): 101010. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.waojou.2024.101010.

Adolescence

Hans Dietrich et al., “School-to-work transition and subjective well-being in Australia.,” The British journal of sociology 1, no. 73 (2022): https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12895.

Lin, Wen-Hsu and Chi Chiao. “Adverse adolescence experiences, feeling lonely across life stages and loneliness in adulthood.” International journal of clinical and health psychology : IJCHP 3, no. 20 (2020): 243-252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijchp.2020.07.006.

Sohn, Minsung, Gum-Ryeong Park, Jinho Kim. “A longitudinal study of learning difficulties in adolescence and biomarkers of cardiometabolic risk in adulthood: A gendered pathways approach.” Public health , no. 236 (2024): 281-289. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2024.09.008.

Adulthood

Gonen, Elif, E Sabrina. Twilhaar, Nicole Baumann, Barbara Busch, Peter Bartmann, Dieter Wolke. “Changes in social relationships from 26 to 34 years of age in adults born very preterm.” Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology 1, no. 39 (2025): 15-26. https://doi.org/10.1111/ppe.13133.

Zang, Emma and Nathan Kim. “Intergenerational upward mobility and racial differences in mortality among young adults: Evidence from county-level analyses.” Health & place , no. 70 (2021): 102628. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2021.102628.

Roseboom, Tessa, Susanne. de Rooij, Rebecca Painter. “The Dutch famine and its long-term consequences for adult health.” Early human development 8, no. 82 (2006): 485-91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2006.07.001.

Old Age

Gibson, Kate, Andrew Kingston, Emma McLellan, Louise Robinson, Katie Brittain. “”Successful” ageing in later older age: A sociology of class and ageing in place.” Social science & medicine (1982) , no. 358 (2024): 117258. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117258.