MRC NSHD 2013-2018 Data

The MRC National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD) has informed UK health care, education and social policy for more than 50 years and is the oldest and longest running of the British birth cohort studies. Today, with study members in their seventies, the NSHD offers a unique opportunity to explore the long-term biological and social processes of ageing and how ageing is affected by factors acting across the whole of life. <br>From an initial maternity survey of 5362 births recorded in England, Scotland and Wales during one week of March 1946, a socially stratified sample of singleton babies born to married parents was selected for follow-up. These participants have been studied over twenty times throughout their life. <br>During their childhood, the main aim of the NSHD was to investigate how the environment at home and at school affected physical and mental development and educational attainment. During adulthood, the main aim was to investigate how childhood health and development and lifetime social circumstances affected their adult health and function and their change with age. Now, as participants have reached retirement, the research team is developing the NSHD into a life course study of ageing. <br>Study members were asked to attend a clinic at age 60-64 for a range of assessments (or alternatively have a home visit). They were invited for a home visit at 69 years, updating information on health, lifestyle and life circumstances as well as obtaining repeat physical and cognitive measurements. Postal questionnaires were completed before the clinic and home visits. A subset of 500 study members are also being invited to participate in a Neuroscience sub-study. This publication covers data from the NSHD for the years 2013 to 2018. <br> The cohort study is ongoing and further data collections are being added, while component data sets are separately referable.

医学研究理事会（Medical Research Council, MRC）全国健康与发展调查（National Survey of Health and Development, NSHD）已为英国医疗、教育与社会政策领域提供决策支撑超过50年，是英国现存最悠久且持续时间最长的出生队列研究。如今，研究对象均已步入七十岁年龄段，NSHD为探索衰老的长期生物学与社会过程，以及贯穿一生的各类因素如何影响衰老进程，提供了独一无二的研究契机。<br>1946年3月的一周内，研究团队于英格兰、苏格兰与威尔士范围内登记了5362例新生儿的产院调查初始数据，并从中选取由已婚父母所生的单胎婴儿组成社会分层样本开展追踪随访。该队列的参与者已在人生不同阶段接受了二十余次调研。<br>童年阶段，NSHD的核心研究目标为探究家庭与校园环境如何影响个体的身心发育与教育成就；成年阶段的研究重点则转向探索童年健康与发育状况，以及终身社会处境，如何影响成年后的健康状态、身体机能及其随年龄的变化趋势。如今，随着研究对象陆续步入退休年龄，研究团队正将NSHD拓展为一项覆盖生命全周期的衰老研究。<br>研究对象曾在60-64岁期间受邀前往诊所接受一系列评估（或选择接受上门家访）；在69岁时，他们再次受邀接受上门家访，以更新健康、生活方式与生活处境相关信息，并重复开展身体与认知功能检测。诊所访视与家访前，参与者均需完成邮寄问卷。另有500名研究对象受邀参与神经科学子研究。本数据集涵盖了NSHD在2013年至2018年间的相关数据。<br>该队列研究目前仍在持续开展，后续将持续新增数据采集内容，且其各组成数据集均可单独引用。