Growing Up in Poverty, Growing Old in Infirmity: The Long Arm of Childhood Conditions in Great Britain.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The ageing population poses a tremendous challenge in understanding the sources of inequalities in health. Though they appear to be far removed, childhood conditions are known to be inextricably linked with adult health, and in turn on health in later life. The long arm of childhood conditions hypothesis is often tested using recollection of childhood circumstances, but such subjective recall can yield potentially inaccurate or possibly biased inferences. We tested the long arm hypothesis on three outcomes in later life, arrayed from objective to subjective health, namely: gait speed, episodic memory and mental health.

Methods and findings

We used the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing 2006 enriched with retrospective life history (N = 5,913). To deal with recal

SUBMITTER: Tampubolon G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4682716 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature