New study provides a picture of preconception health across three generations in the UK

A new study details generational health trends among adolescents and young adults in the U.K. The study, published December 11, 2024 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Olivia Righton from King’s College London, U.K., and colleagues, has broad implications for reducing health disparities and designing targeted public health interventions.

Optimizing health in women and men before conception can improve pregnancy outcomes, reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases in both parents, and improve childhood health. Prior research has shown that many women enter pregnancy with risk factors that put them at higher risk for complications—poor diet, smoking, diabetes, hypertension, and obesity—that disproportionately affect those from disadvantaged backgrounds. The U.K. has established initiatives to optimize and reduce inequalities in preconception health, and while there have been studies on women’s health during prenatal visits, there hasn’t been a national picture of preconception health of men and women of reproductive age.

This study looked at health behaviors and indicators across adolescence and adulthood in three cohorts in the U.K. born approximately ten years apart: up to 17,198 people born in 1970, up to 15,770 people born in 1989-1990, and up to 19,517 people born in 2000-2002. Data on various health indicators and behaviors were collected at age 16/17 and 25/26.

The study found that some suboptimal health behaviors, such as low fruit consumption, persisted in both men and women across generations. Other unhealthy behaviors, such as alcohol and tobacco use and soda consumption decreased in younger generations, though the prevalence of obesity increased.

Trends for several key health indicators important for pregnancy health, such as folic acid supplementation, cervical screening, and mental health conditions, could not be identified, as these were not consistently reported across the three cohorts.

The trends revealed can help to tailor public health interventions to reduce inequalities and improve the overall health and well-being of the preconception population.

The authors add: “Our findings from multiple generations of adolescents and young adults in the UK show improvements in alcohol, tobacco, and soft drink consumption, but persistent low fruit intake and surging obesity rates. These behaviors have important transgenerational health implications, highlighting the urgent need for public health interventions that target the root causes of health behaviors.”

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In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS ONE: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0299061

Citation: Righton O, Flynn A, Alwan NA, Schoenaker D (2024) Preconception health in adolescence and adulthood across generations in the UK: Findings from three British birth cohort studies. PLoS ONE 19(12): e0299061. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0299061

Author Countries: U.K., Ireland

Funding: DS is supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) through an NIHR Advanced Fellowship (NIHR302955) and the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre (NIHR203319)". The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.