Title of project

Developing a life course perspective framework for diabetes prevention after pregnancy

Abstract

This application focuses on a public health approach for the prevention of diabetes and other cardiometabolic disease in women and their families following gestational diabetes. It is centred on the (DOHaD) concept. DOHaD contends that from a biomedical science perspective, epidemiological studies provide us with evidence of the risk of noncommunicable disease and its mechanisms such as epigenetic processes. This concept fails to acknowledge the social sciences which have provided strong evidence that generations interact and social structures adapt over time. The life course perspective and developing one integrating organisational and personal health literacy for diabetes prevention after pregnancy would be an important step to bring a social medicine approach here to benefit women who have had gestational diabetes and their families.

This application is to work with data from an existing collaborative project (Bump2Baby and Me) in Denmark and then extend this work using Danish data from the Face-It Study and other data from Steno centres. This work will be disseminated through interdisciplinary capacity building seminars, peer reviewed publications and planning a national DDEA and an international symposium. These dissemination activities will focus on the application of the novel framework to diabetes prevention for women with previous gestational diabetes as part of this Visiting Professorship.