{"id":552,"date":"2017-05-05T07:13:16","date_gmt":"2017-05-05T07:13:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mrc.soton.ac.uk\/herts\/?page_id=552"},"modified":"2024-04-30T14:34:50","modified_gmt":"2024-04-30T13:34:50","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/herts\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Contributing to the understanding of lifecourse influences on health in later life<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The history of the Hertfordshire Cohort Study<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In the early part of the last century, mothers and babies in the U.K. were generally much less healthy than they are nowadays. Working in the late 1980\u2019s, Professors David Barker and Clive Osmond noticed that the parts of the country which had the least healthy babies in the early 1900\u2019s were the same areas which were \u2018hotspots\u2019 for heart disease 60 to 70 years later. This led them to ask: \u2018do poor conditions in early life lead to heart disease in adulthood?\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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To investigate this question, detailed information was needed about a group of men and women’s early life as well as their health in later life. After a search lasting several years, a large collection of midwife and health visitor records came to light in Hertfordshire. These records contained unique information on weight at birth and during infancy for all babies born in the county between 1911 and 1939.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The collection of the detailed information recorded in the Hertfordshire ledgers was overseen by Miss Ethel Margaret Burnside who coordinated a team of midwives and health visitors whose objective was to improve the survival, health and development of infants in the county. This was an important public health priority at a time when Britain\u2019s birth rate was declining and infant mortality rates were high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Staff<\/a>
Staff of Peartree Place Maternity Hospital 1950<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Hertfordshire<\/a>
Hertfordshire Midwife<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Margaret<\/a>
Margaret Burnside<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The ledgers contain detailed information on each baby born in Hertfordshire:<\/p>\n\n\n\n