Young people appear to be in worse health earlier in life than previous generations, according to a review of studies comparing national birth cohort data sets of tens of thousands of people across the UK born since 1946.
This trend, which the researchers describe as “intergenerational health drift,” was most consistently seen in obesity and mental health, while evidence for diabetes was found in comparisons between Gen X and baby boomers. The authors of the review, which is based on more than 50 studies, say their findings suggest that recently born generations are likely to spend more years in poor health than those born earlier.
The observed generational differences are unlikely to be fully explained by improvements in medical care, screening, or diagnostic practices. Differences were observed when using objectively measured biomarkers to identify diagnose-independent outcomes such as obesity and conditions such as diabetes.
Comparisons of mental ill-health were based on self-reported levels of depression and anxiety symptoms rather than diagnostic reports, and the measurement tools used were extensively tested to ensure they provided comparable measures across cohorts.
A team of experts from University College London, King’s College London and the University of Oxford investigated changes in physical and mental health between generations born after the Second World War. The health indicators of people born in different years were compared when they reached similar ages.
Research results published in peer-reviewed journals population research, This has implications for the investments needed to care for the growing number of people living with long-term health conditions, the authors added. Despite declines in smoking, increases in educational attainment, and improvements in material circumstances early in life, health outcomes are deteriorating.
“Evidence shows that recent cohorts have an earlier onset of poor health due to several outcomes, particularly obesity and poor mental health,” says first author Laura Gimeno, a PhD student in the UCL Center for Longitudinal Research.
“If the health status of recent generations is ‘regressing’, it means that society has not reached the biological limits of health improvement. Rather, we are looking at the consequences of preventable social and environmental exposures that have shaped people’s health over time and generations.”
“Intergenerational health disparities have serious implications for the policies, programs and funding needed to support more people living with long-term health conditions.”
By 2050, a quarter of the UK population will be aged 65 or over, increasing the demands on our health and social care systems and the economy. Therefore, to meet the challenges of population aging, it is important that recently born people not only live longer, but also live healthier.
Life expectancy in the UK improved dramatically in the 20th century. Recent generations have seen lower infant and child mortality rates and fewer deaths from heart disease.
However, the increase in health expectations has slowed or stagnated since the early 2010s due to worsening health conditions in midlife. Recent data released by the Office for National Statistics suggests that healthy life expectancy has fallen in recent years.
These findings suggest that the recent decline in healthy life expectancy is likely caused by a combination of worsening mental and physical health in more recent generations. ”
George Pourvidis, Professor of Population Health and Statistics, Center for Longitudinal Research, University College London
This review is based on evidence from 51 studies on health outcomes published up to June 2024. Health problems included diabetes, high blood pressure, and cancer, with diagnoses either self-reported by patients or observed by researchers.
All 51 papers focused on data from the British Birth Cohort Study, which followed babies born between 1946 and 2002. They are the National Survey of Health and Development (1946), the National Survey of Child Development (1958), the British Cohort Study (1970), Next Steps (1989-1990), the Avon Parent-Child Longitudinal Study (1991-1992), and the Millennium Cohort. Research (2000-2002).
The researchers found little suggestion that the health of people born after 1946 had improved. They say further research is needed to understand the drivers of this trend, adding that it is likely shaped by changing exposure to social and environmental risk factors (e.g. “obesogenic environments”) over people’s lives, and is probably preventable.
Although the findings raise important questions about apparent deterioration in health, the authors suggest that this deterioration in health is most likely caused by actual deterioration in health. Increased survival rates are unlikely to explain this trend, given that generational differences are evident from early childhood to midlife. Similarly, the consistency of results across both self-reported and objectively measured health outcomes makes it unlikely that changes in measures alone underlie the observed patterns.
It adds: “The relative importance of these explanations is likely to vary across health conditions, and further research is needed to fully understand this.”
A limitation of this review was that it focused on evidence from a series of UK birth cohort studies designed to be representative of births occurring in the UK in a particular year. Older birth cohorts are therefore less ethnically diverse than the current UK population of the same age. However, the authors explain that similar results have been observed in other studies using different data that better reflect the ethnic diversity of the current UK population.
sauce:
Reference magazines:
Jimeno, L. others (2026). Intergenerational health variation: A systematic review of evidence from British birth cohort studies. Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1080/00324728.2026.2652038. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00324728.2026.2652038.
