Box 1.

Examples of the life course perspective in recent policy documents on lifelong health and ageing

“The evidence base for the life course approach is strong. What happens early in life (indeed in fetal life) affects health and wellbeing in later life” [96] The… diversity in the capacities and health needs of older people is not random, but rooted in events throughout the life course that can often be modified, underscoring the importance of a life course approach” [97] “Fostering healthy ageing will require a much better understanding of common trajectories of intrinsic capacity and functional ability, their determinants and the effectiveness of interventions to modify them” [97] “Transforming services for older people requires a fundamental shift towards care that is co-ordinated around the full range of an individual’s needs (rather than care based around single diseases)” [98] “Successful policy responses in an ageing population are likely to be those which take a whole life course approach” [99]