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The developmental origins of health and disease and intergenerational inheritance: a scoping review of multigenerational cohort studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2024

Jie Tan Open the ORCID record for Jie Tan [Opens in a new window] ,
Zifang Zhang ,
Lijing L. Yan  and
Xiaolin Xu
Jie Tan
Affiliation:
School of Public Health, Wuhan University, Wuhan, HB, China Global Health Research Center, Duke Kunshan University, Kunshan, JS, China
Zifang Zhang
Affiliation:
School of Public Health and The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, ZJ, China
Lijing L. Yan*
Affiliation:
School of Public Health, Wuhan University, Wuhan, HB, China Global Health Research Center, Duke Kunshan University, Kunshan, JS, China
Xiaolin Xu*
Affiliation:
School of Public Health and The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, ZJ, China
*
Corresponding authors: L. Yan; Email: lijing.yan@duke.edu and X. Xu; Email: xiaolin.xu@zju.edu.cn
Corresponding authors: L. Yan; Email: lijing.yan@duke.edu and X. Xu; Email: xiaolin.xu@zju.edu.cn
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Abstract

Epidemiologic research has increasingly acknowledged the importance of developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) and suggests that prior exposures can be transferred across generations. Multigenerational cohorts are crucial to verify the intergenerational inheritance among human subjects. We carried out this scoping review aims to summarize multigenerational cohort studies’ characteristics, issues, and implications and hence provide evidence to the DOHaD and intergenerational inheritance. We adopted a comprehensive search strategy to identify multigenerational cohorts, searching PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases from the inception of each dataset to June 20th, 2022, to retrieve relevant articles. After screening, 28 unique multigenerational cohort studies were identified. We classified all studies into four types: population-based cohort extended three-generation cohort, birth cohort extended three-generation cohort, three-generation cohort, and integrated birth and three-generation cohort. Most cohorts (n = 15, 53%) were categorized as birth cohort extended three-generation studies. The sample size of included cohorts varied from 41 to 167,729. The study duration ranged from two years to 31 years. Most cohorts had common exposures, including socioeconomic factors, lifestyle, and grandparents’ and parents’ health and risk behaviors over the life course. These studies usually investigated intergenerational inheritance of diseases as the outcomes, most frequently, obesity, child health, and cardiovascular diseases. We also found that most multigenerational studies aim to disentangle genetic, lifestyle, and environmental contributions to the DOHaD across generations. We call for more research on large multigenerational well-characterized cohorts, up to four or even more generations, and more studies from low- and middle-income countries.

Keywords

Developmental origins of health and diseaseintergenerational inheritancemultigenerational cohortslife course
Type
Review
Information
Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease , Volume 15 , 2024 , e1
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press in association with The International Society for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD)

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