Charting the life course: Emerging opportunities to advance scientific approaches using life course research

Heidi A. Hanson; Claire L. Leiser; Gretchen Bandoli; Brad H. Pollock; Margaret R. Karagas; Daniel Armstrong; Ann Dozier; Nicole G. Weiskopf; Maureen Monaghan; Ann M. Davis; Elizabeth Eckstrom; Chunhua Weng; Jonathan N. Tobin; Frederick Kaskel; Mark R. Schleiss; Peter Szilagyi; Carrie Dykes; Dan Cooper; Shari L. Barkin

doi:10.1017/cts.2020.492

Journal of Clinical and Translational Science (Jan 2021)

Charting the life course: Emerging opportunities to advance scientific approaches using life course research

Heidi A. Hanson,
Claire L. Leiser,
Gretchen Bandoli,
Brad H. Pollock,
Margaret R. Karagas,
Daniel Armstrong,
Ann Dozier,
Nicole G. Weiskopf,
Maureen Monaghan,
Ann M. Davis,
Elizabeth Eckstrom,
Chunhua Weng,
Jonathan N. Tobin,
Frederick Kaskel,
Mark R. Schleiss,
Peter Szilagyi,
Carrie Dykes,
Dan Cooper,
Shari L. Barkin

Affiliations

Heidi A. Hanson: ORCiD; Population Sciences, Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA Department of Surgery, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Claire L. Leiser: Population Sciences, Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
Gretchen Bandoli: Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
Brad H. Pollock: Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA
Margaret R. Karagas: Department of Epidemiology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH, USA
Daniel Armstrong: Department of Pediatrics, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA
Ann Dozier: Public Health Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
Nicole G. Weiskopf: Department of Biomedical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA
Maureen Monaghan: Children’s National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA George Washington University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, USA
Ann M. Davis: University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, USA Center for Children’s Healthy Lifestyles & Nutrition, Kansas City, MO, USA
Elizabeth Eckstrom: Division of General Internal Medicine & Geriatrics and Oregon Clinical & Translational Research Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA
Chunhua Weng: Department of Biomedical Informatics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
Jonathan N. Tobin: Center for Clinical and Translational Science, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA Clinical Directors Network (CDN), New York, NY, USA
Frederick Kaskel: Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA
Mark R. Schleiss: University of Minnesota Clinical and Translational Science Institute, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Peter Szilagyi: Department of Pediatrics, UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Carrie Dykes: Clinical and Translational Science Institute, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
Dan Cooper: Institute for Clinical and Translational Science and Department of Pediatrics, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
Shari L. Barkin: Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/cts.2020.492
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 5

Abstract

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Life course research embraces the complexity of health and disease development, tackling the extensive interactions between genetics and environment. This interdisciplinary blueprint, or theoretical framework, offers a structure for research ideas and specifies relationships between related factors. Traditionally, methodological approaches attempt to reduce the complexity of these dynamic interactions and decompose health into component parts, ignoring the complex reciprocal interaction of factors that shape health over time. New methods that match the epistemological foundation of the life course framework are needed to fully explore adaptive, multilevel, and reciprocal interactions between individuals and their environment. The focus of this article is to (1) delineate the differences between lifespan and life course research, (2) articulate the importance of complex systems science as a methodological framework in the life course research toolbox to guide our research questions, (3) raise key questions that can be asked within the clinical and translational science domain utilizing this framework, and (4) provide recommendations for life course research implementation, charting the way forward. Recent advances in computational analytics, computer science, and data collection could be used to approximate, measure, and analyze the intertwining and dynamic nature of genetic and environmental factors involved in health development.

Published in Journal of Clinical and Translational Science

ISSN: 2059-8661 (Online)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Medicine
Website: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-clinical-and-translational-science

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