The MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL (LHA) is the home of the MRC National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD).
The NSHD, the oldest of the British birth cohort studies, is unique in having data from birth on the health and social circumstances of a representative sample (N=5362) of men and women born in England, Scotland or Wales in March 1946.
The mission of the MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL is to:
- identify social and biological factors that affect lifelong health, ageing and the development of chronic disease risk by using and enhancing the NSHD and other population-based studies;
- exchange knowledge gained with policymakers, health practitioners and other research users, and promote public understanding of healthy ageing.