New research shows how health behaviours of young people have changed across generations.
Results reveal progress in some areas, with a decrease in smoking and soft drink consumption.
However, the researchers warn of ‘ongoing challenges' - including rising rates of obesity. This will have implications for preparing for pregnancy.
The study was led by King’s College London and the University of Southampton.
Researchers say their findings could have broad implications for reducing health disparities. They could also be used to design targeted public health interventions.
The findings were published this week in PLOS ONE.
Supporting future parents
Research shows that women and men who are healthy and well when they (or their partner) get pregnant are less likely to develop complications.
Their children also tend to have better long-term developmental and health outcomes.
A previous Southampton-led study found that nine in ten women in England enter pregnancy with risk factors that put them at higher risk of complications. These include poor diet, smoking, diabetes, hypertension and obesity. They were found to disproportionately affect people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
In the UK, initiatives have been put in place to improve preconception health and reduce inequalities.
Three generations
Previous studies have considered women’s health during prenatal visits.
There hasn’t been a national picture of preconception health of men and women of reproductive age.
The current study involved three cohorts of people in the UK, born approximately ten years apart. This included around 17,000 people born in 1970, 15,000 people born in 1989-1990 and 19,000 people born in 2000-2002.
The research team analysed data on various health indicators and behaviours. They did this for data that was collected when participants were aged 16-17 and 25-26.
‘Ongoing challenges’
The data showed that some suboptimal health behaviours persisted in both men and women across generations. These included not eating enough fruit.
Other unhealthy behaviours, such as alcohol and tobacco use and soft drink consumption, decreased in younger generations. However, the number of people living with obesity increased.
Olivia Righton, a PhD student at King’s, was the lead author of the paper. She said:
“Optimising the health of both women and men before pregnancy can greatly improve pregnancy outcomes. It could also have benefits for their children's long-term health.
“However, our findings reveal ongoing challenges in preconception health across generations in the UK. Suboptimal behaviours such as low fruit intake and rising obesity rates persist. This is despite progress in reducing alcohol, tobacco and soft drink consumption.”
Dr Danielle Schoenaker is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Southampton. She is also part of the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre.
“These trends call for further public health efforts to support adolescents and young adults to adopt healthy behaviours”, Dr Schoenaker explained.
“This is not only important for their own health but also to improve the health outcomes of future generations.”
The research team could not identify trends for some key health indicators important for pregnancy. These include folic acid supplementation, cervical screening and mental health conditions. This was due to them not being consistently reported across the three cohorts.
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