Diana Kuh, Professor of Life Course Epidemiology, is the director of the MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, and the MRC National Survey of Health and Development, the oldest of the British birth cohort studies that has followed up over 5000 individuals since their birth in March 1946. Diana is also the principal investigator of the Healthy Ageing across the Life Course (HALCyon) research collaboration and co-Director of an NIH programme on the Integrative Analysis of Longitudinal Studies of Ageing (IALSA) that brings together cohort studies to investigate lifetime influences on ageing. Diana has been at the forefront of a life course approach to epidemiology, both at a theoretical and empirical level.

Rachel Cooper is a Senior Lecturer developing a research programme at the MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL. Rachel has a BA in Human Sciences from the University of Oxford, an MSc in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a PhD in Epidemiology from University College London. Rachel has experience of using data from a range of longitudinal studies to address research questions which have a life course perspective and has worked on the MRC National Survey of Health and Development since 2003. Since 2007 Rachel's primary focus has been on the unit's physical capability and musculoskeletal ageing programme and she has been heavily involved in the study of these measures across cohorts as part of the HALYcon research collaboration. Rachel is interested in all aspects of life course epidemiology and in applying this approach to the study of healthy ageing.

Rebecca Hardy is Professor of Epidemiology and Medical Statistics and leads the Cardiovascular Ageing programme at the MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL. Her programme investigating the biological and social life course influences on cardiovascular ageing and the development of cardiovascular disease using data from the MRC National Survey of Health and Development and other cohort studies. She also has an interest in the methodology for the analysis of life course data and for cross-cohort comparisons.

Marcus Richards is a Professor of Psychology in Epidemiology and leads the Mental Ageing research programme at the MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL. Marcus read Experimental Psychology at Oxford University, and obtained a PhD at London University in the physiology of human learning. He has held appointments at Columbia University in New York and King's College London Institute of Psychiatry to conduct research into neurodegenerative diseases of ageing, and was one of the first recipients of an Alzheimer's Society Research Fellowship. He joined the MRC National Survey of Health and Development team in 1996, where his work is primarily focused on developing a life course approach to mental ageing and its integration with physical health and function.

Yoav Ben-Shlomo is a Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and has been at the forefront of a life course approach to epidemiology both at a theoretical and empirical level. He is involved with several cohort studies and has interests in ageing, neurodegenerative disorders, endocrine influences on health and equity of access to health care.

• Part I. The life course perspective on healthy ageing


• 1: Diana Kuh, Rebecca Hardy, Rachel Cooper, Marcus Richards and Yoav Ben-Shlomo: Life course epidemiology, ageing research and maturing cohort studies: a dynamic combination for understanding healthy ageing


• 2: Rachel Cooper, Rebecca Hardy, Avan Aihie Sayer and Diana Kuh: A life course approach to physical capability


• 3: Marcus Richards and Ian J Deary: A life course approach to cognitive capability


• 4: Catharine R Gale, Ian J Deary and Mai Stafford: A life course approach to psychological and social wellbeing


• Part II. Methods for studying ageing from a life course and interdisciplinary perspective


• 5: Rebecca Hardy, Graciela Muniz-Terrera and Scott Hofer: Design of life course studies of healthy ageing


• 6: Graciela Muniz-Terrera and Rebecca Hardy: Longitudinal data analysis in studies of healthy ageing


• 7: Andrew Wills and Kate Tilling: Modelling repeat exposures: some examples from life course epidemiology Supplementary web material


• 8: Sean Clouston: Propensity score matching and longitudinal research designs: counterfactual analysis using life course data in a longitudinal context


• 9: JD Carpentieri and Jane Elliot: Understanding healthy ageing using a qualitative approach: the value of narratives and individual biographies


• Part III. Healthy ageing in body systems, organs and cells


• 10: Yoav Ben-Shlomo, Michael Gardner and Stafford Lightman: A life course approach to neuroendocrine systems: the example of the HPA axis


• 11: Debbie A. Lawlor and Rebecca Hardy: A life course approach to metabolic and vascular function Supplementary web material


• 12: Kate A Ward, Judith E Adams, Ann Prentice, Avan Aihie Sayer and Cyrus Cooper: A life course approach to healthy musculoskeletal ageing


• 13: Carmen Martin-Ruiz and Thomas von Zglinicki: A life course approach to biomarkers of ageing


• 14: Teri-Louise Davies, Tamuno Alfred and Ian Day: Genetic aspects of ageing


• 15: Paul Haggarty and Anne Ferguson Smith: Life course epigenetics and healthy ageing


• Part IV. The way we live


• 16: Gita Mishra, Marcus Richards, Seema Mihrshahi and Alison Stephen: Lifetime lifestyles I: diet, the life course and ageing


• 17: Ulf Ekelund: Lifetime lifestyles II: physical activity, the life course and ageing


• 18: Emily Murray and Mai Stafford: Lifetime lifestyles III: where we live, the life course and ageing


• 19: Diana Kuh, Rachel Cooper, Rebecca Hardy, James Goodwin, Marcus Richards and Yoav Ben-Shlomo: Conclusions