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A Framework to Address Challenges in Communicating the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease

  • Environmental Epigenetics (A Baccarelli, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Findings from the field of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) suggest that some of the most pressing public health problems facing communities today may begin much earlier than previously understood. In particular, this body of work provides evidence that social, physical, chemical, environmental, and behavioral influences in early life play a significant role in establishing vulnerabilities for chronic disease later in life. Further, because this work points to the importance of adverse environmental exposures that cluster in population groups, it suggests that existing opportunities to intervene at a population level may need to refocus their efforts “upstream” to sufficiently combat the fundamental causes of disease. To translate these findings into improved public health, however, the distance between scientific discovery and population application will need to be bridged by conversations across a breadth of disciplines and social roles. And importantly, those involved will likely begin without a shared vocabulary or conceptual starting point. The purpose of this paper is to support and inform the translation of DOHaD findings from the bench to population-level health promotion and disease prevention, by: (1) discussing the unique communication challenges inherent to translation of DOHaD for broad audiences, (2) introducing the First-hit/Second-hit Framework with an epidemiologic planning matrix as a model for conceptualizing and structuring communication around DOHaD, and (3) discussing the ways in which patterns of communicating DOHaD findings can expand the range of solutions considered and encourage discussion of population-level solutions in relation to one another, rather than in isolation.

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Acknowledgments

The project described was supported in part by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, award number K01 DK102857-02 (JBH).

We would like to thank Ms. Jocelyn Wegman for her thoughtful review of earlier drafts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Community Health and OHSU/PSU School of Public Health, Portland State University, PO Box 751, Portland, OR, 97201, USA

    Liana Winett, Lawrence Wallack, Dawn Richardson & Lynne Messer

  2. Public Health and Preventive Medicine and OHSU/PSU School of Public Health, Oregon Health and Science University, 3181 Sam Jackson Park Road, Portland, OR, 97239, USA

    Janne Boone-Heinonen

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  1. Liana Winett
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  2. Lawrence Wallack
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  3. Dawn Richardson
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Correspondence to Liana Winett.

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Liana Winett, Lawrence Wallack, Dawn Richardson, Janne Boone-Heinonen, and Lynne Messer declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Winett, L., Wallack, L., Richardson, D. et al. A Framework to Address Challenges in Communicating the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease. Curr Envir Health Rpt 3, 169–177 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-016-0102-3

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