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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Feb 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Adv Nurs. 2016 Oct 17;73(2):349–360. doi: 10.1111/jan.13168

Figure 2. Latent, pathway and cumulative effects on a health trajectory.

Figure 2

Latent, pathway and cumulative effects have an effect on health trajectories. Latent effects (small grey circles) are the result of exposures in early life that affect health trajectories in later life. Pathway effects (thin arrows) may be the result of early exposures, but they result in behaviors that alter the health trajectory across the life course. Cumulative effects (large grey circle) result from the cumulative ‘wear and tear’ on the body’s systems over time that have an impact heath trajectories throughout the life course.