The AberdeenChildren of the 1950scohort study: background, methods and follow‐up information on a new resource for the study of life course and intergenerational influences on health

Abstract

Correspondence to Professor David Leon (david.leon@lshtm.ac.uk) Word count (excluding reference section): 6772

Childhood intelligence, educational attainment and adult body mass index: findings from a prospective cohort and within sibling-pairs analysis

“…This information was further linked to their school records, including standard tests of psychometric intelligence that were administered to all primary school children in the 1960s in Scotland at the ages of 7, 9 and 11 years. 22 The associations we examined did not differ substantively whichever of the three intelligence test scores were used (tested at the age of 7, 9 or 11 years) and so only results for the tests conducted at age 7 years are presented. The tests used at the age of 7 years were the Moray House Picture Intelligence test numbers 1 or 2.…”

“…22 This consists of 12 150 children who were born in Aberdeen between 1950 and 1956 for whom comprehensive information was abstracted from the Aberdeen Maternity and Neonatal Database about the course of their mother's pregnancy and the children's physical characteristics at birth. This information was further linked to their school records, including standard tests of psychometric intelligence that were administered to all primary school children in the 1960s in Scotland at the ages of 7, 9 and 11 years.…”

“…The tests used at the age of 7 years were the Moray House Picture Intelligence test numbers 1 or 2. 22 The intelligence tests were Figure 1 Relationships between childhood intelligence, educational attainment and adult body mass index (BMI). Solid arrows represent established associations from previous studies; broken (dashed) arrows represent the associations that we have assessed in this study; the bold broken arrow between family characteristics and adult BMI represents the results of our study which suggest that there is no direct association between childhood intelligence and adult BMI (that association attenuates to the null with adjustment for educational attainment) or between educational attainment and adult BMI (that association appears to be explained by family characteristics that influence both educational attainment and adult BMI).…”

The associations of birthweight, gestational age and childhood BMI with type 2 diabetes: findings from the Aberdeen Children of the 1950s cohort

“…Described in detail elsewhere [5,6], the cohort consists of 12,150 individuals who were born in Aberdeen between 1950 and 1956. We excluded all multiple births (n=316).…”

“…Data on birthweight, gestational age, father's occupational social class, gravidity, pregnancy-induced hypertension, antepartum haemorrhage, maternal age at birth and maternal height were abstracted from the Aberdeen Maternal and Neonatal Database, which collects these data prospectively using research standard protocols [5]. Height and weight at school entry were measured during routine school entry medical exams.…”