University of Exeter

Academic Institute

OFHS260023

This study examines how our early life and biology shape health, wellbeing, and disease risk across life. By combining genetic information with questionnaires and health records, we aim to understand why some people develop serious physical or mental illnesses and why risks differ between individuals. First, we will look at early life and sex related factors such as birthweight, pregnancy outcomes, hormone levels, reproductive ageing, and major life changes, to see how they influence health. Second, we will test how these early risks contribute to major health problems, including heart and metabolic diseases, cancer, and premature death. Third, we will examine mental health conditions including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression, and explore why people who have both mental and physical illnesses often face worse health outcomes. Finally, we will integrate findings to develop tools that can help identify who is at higher risk of disease and when prevention or treatment might work best. Our key research questions aim to address: how early biological and sex-specific factors influence lifelong health; why mental and physical illnesses often occur together; and whether genetic differences shape disease risk and progression. This work will support better prediction, prevention, and care across the lifespan. Common health problems such as diabetes, heart disease, and mental illness, arise from a complex interplay of genetics, biology, behavioural, and early-life factors across a person’s lifetime. These include our genes, how our bodies work, and our behaviours throughout our lives. Traditional research can show links between these factors and disease, but it often cannot tell us what causes disease. Genetic research provides a powerful way to tackle this problem. By studying our genes and how small genetic differences affect health, we can learn more about the biological processes that lead to disease. This knowledge can create new opportunities to prevent illness and improve treatments. Because genetic variants are fixed at conception, they can be used as natural experiments to identify causal pathways between risk factors and health outcomes. Researchers can use them to understand which risk factors truly cause health problems and which ones are simply associated with them. This approach, known as Mendelian randomization, helps reveal which factors directly influence disease, and which may offer targets for prevention or treatment.

This research will benefit the public by improving understanding of why common health problems including diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and mental illness develop, and why risk varies between people. Using genetic methods that help us get closer to identifying true cause and effect relationships, we aim to pinpoint the biological and life course factors that genuinely contribute to poor health, rather than those that are simply associated with it. Our work on sex differences and early-life development will examine how childhood health, hormones, and life transitions such as menopause influence later disease risk, helping address gaps in women’s and midlife health. Work on metabolic health will clarify processes that lead to diabetes and related conditions, potentially supporting earlier identification of those at higher risk. Our mental health research will shed light on why some individuals experience worse physical health alongside depression and related disorders, while others remain resilient. Finally, our work on risk prediction will explore whether combining genetic information with routine health data can better identify people who are most likely to develop serious complications. Our research with Our Future Health will support progress toward more personalised prevention, earlier treatment, and better use of healthcare resources across the NHS.

Public Health Research

24/04/2026

26/03/2026

TRE