Growth mixture modelling for life course epidemiology

Life course epidemiology is the study of how physical and social exposures occurring across the entire life course, or even inter-generationally, can impact chronic disease risk later in life (Ben-Shlomo and Kuh 2002). The life course approach to chronic disease epidemiology is not a new one, though it was overshadowed during much of the twentieth century by research on the importance of adulthood lifestyle risk factors such as smoking and diet (Kuh and Ben-Shlomo 2004). Recently, however, the life course approach to epidemiology has been given more attention by researchers, funding agencies, and policy makers (Ben-Shlomo and Kuh 2002; De Stavola et al. 2006; Kuh and Ben-Shlomo 2004; Kuh et al. 2003; Pickles et al. 2007).