Risk Factors: Risk of NCDs in Women Across Life

Program Leads: Prof Gita Mishra, Prof Martha Hickey, Prof Flavia Cicuttini, Prof Rachel Huxley, Prof Jane Fisher

Current knowledge on links between risk factors, reproductive characteristics and increased risk of NCDs in women is impeded by the varying quality of existing data and gaps in evidence, including for multimorbidity.

This program will undertake a systematic investigation into the associations of established and emerging risk factors at each stage of women’s lives (early life, young adult, main reproductive stage, menopausal transition, and later life) with NCD incidence, including multimorbidity. It will use both the prevalence and age at onset (incidence) of each NCD.

Objectives

1. What are the links between sociodemographic factors, body weight and health behaviours, and reproductive factors (including the timing and duration of exposures) with one or more NCDs?

2. To what extent do sociodemographic factors, body weight and health behaviours, and reproductive factors act in combination to modify/amplify the risks of one or more NCD?

3. To what extent do these risk factors cluster and can women be characterised with respect to future risk of NCDs?