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International Centre for Health and Society 2005 Public Seminar Series Monday 17 January 5.00pm (followed by drinks at 6pm) All Welcome.RSVP essential Speaker: Professor Janet McCalman, University of Melbourne Title: 'History, health & the life course' Abstract A report on the historical study Birth Weight, Social Class and Life Course, Women's Hospital, Melbourne, 1857-1900. As epidemiologists and social scientists develop life course analysis, historians can make a contribution to the understanding of context in the socio-economic determinants of health. Wars, economic depressions and periods of growth can affect people quite differently, depending not just on their socio-economic condition, but also on their life stage. This seminar analyses the historical trajectories of four cohorts of Melbourne working-class people, born in the second half of the nineteenth century. It will explore the timing and effects of two major depressions and two world wars on the outcome of these lives. It includes early analysis of disease trends, including coronary heart disease. Concepts of social and biological 'critical periods' in the life course, and the way both historical events and government policy have intervened in the life chances and life course health of poor white Australians will be discussed. This is a work-in-progress report. This seminar is based on work, which is conducted in partnership with Dr Ruth Morley (of the Murdoch Institute, Royal Children's Hospital), follows the babies born at Melbourne's Lying-in Hospital (now the Royal Women's) from 1857 to 1900, in the period that saw a colonial outpost grow into one of the great cities of the nineteenth-century world. From the 7849 individuals traced to a death certificate-3335 adults, 4514 infants and children out of 15,537 birth records with birth weight-family histories have been developed so that individuals and their families can be followed until 1985. The life courses are plotted against the social and economic changes of the 130 years of the study; social mobility is mapped by social status and geographic location at death; reproductive history, and health and causes of death are deduced from the detailed death certificates required in Victoria. Victoria has one of the best systems of vital registration in the world, providing a wealth of social, demographic and medical data for what was a mixed, immigrant population that quickly stabilised in its new country. The health profile of the very poor, and the timing and nature of the health transition, are of particular comparative relevance to understanding the aetiology and prognosis of Indigenous health in Australia. Professor Janet McCalam is director of the Johnstone-Need Unit for the History of Medicine in the Centre for the Study of Health and Society, University of Melbourne. RSVP: [log in to unmask] Ms Patricia Crowley Dept of Epidemiology & Public Health, UCL 1 - 19 Torrington Place, London WC1E 6BT T: (International code +44 20) or (Domestic code 020) 76791708 F: (International code +44 20) or (Domestic code 020) 7813 0280 New Masters course offered see: www.ucl.ac.uk/healthandsociety