News and opinion

Welcome to our news and blogs section. Here you’ll find the latest developments and insights from across our longitudinal studies.

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News

British adults healthier in midlife than US peers

3 October 2024

Rates of obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are lower among British adults in midlife compared to their counterparts in the US.

News

Private school education linked to better midlife health

19 June 2024

People who went to private school are more likely to be a healthy weight and have lower blood pressure in their mid-40s compared to their state school counterparts.

News

Staying social helps people keep physically active in midlife

22 May 2024

People who remain members of clubs and societies throughout their lives tend to have a higher daily step count and exercise more in their mid-40s.

News

Over a third of adults have multiple health problems in midlife

28 July 2021

More than one in three British adults are suffering from two or more chronic health conditions in middle age, such as recurrent back problems, mental ill-health, high blood pressure, diabetes, and high-risk drinking, according to UCL researchers.

50 stories

2010s: the middle years – an animated tour

4 March 2021

Celebrating 50 years of the 1970 British Cohort Study – As our look back at the 1970 British Cohort Study through the 2010s draws to a close, let us whisk you away on a tour of the decade just gone by.

50 stories

Important discoveries from the 1970 British Cohort Study – Midlife health

25 February 2021

Findings from the 1970 British Cohort Study’s Age 46 Biomedical Sweep have helped to improve our understanding of midlife health.

50 stories

Age 46 Sweep – Objective health data

18 February 2021

The 1970 British Cohort Study Age 46 Sweep had a significant biomedical focus, with objective health measurements and assessments being conducted for the first time in the cohort members’ adulthood.

News, Data release

NHS administrative data now linked to 1958 and 1970 birth cohort studies

15 February 2021

Information from the NHS about cohort members’ health care and treatment in hospitals has now been linked to two longitudinal cohort studies, which have collected survey data over six decades – the 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS) and the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70).

50 stories

Important discoveries from the 1970 British Cohort Study – Midlife mental health

4 February 2021

The 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) has been an important source of evidence on midlife mental health, helping to improve our understanding about why middle age is such a vulnerable period for adults.

News

Up to a fifth of adults have mental health problems in midlife

21 January 2021

Baby Boomers and Generation X are at the greatest risk of mental ill-health in middle age, finds new research by UCL.

News

Middle-aged adults may be spending more time on the sofa than previously thought

28 October 2020

Almost three quarters of British middle-aged adults spend more than eight hours sitting each day, new objective data taken from activity monitors has shown.

News, Data release

Study of midlife health enhanced with new 1970 British Cohort Study accelerometry data

27 March 2020

New activity monitor data from the Age 46 Biomedical Sweep of the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) are now available for researchers to download from the UK Data Service.

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Ryan Bradshaw
Senior Communications Officer

Phone: 020 7612 6516
Email: r.bradshaw@ucl.ac.uk

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