Hertfordshire people help make new medical discoveries
Research by the University of Southampton, which is supported by Hertfordshire residents, is discovering new information about our bones and muscle mass in later life.
A number of projects have been carried out under the Hertfordshire Cohort Study.
Funded by the Medical Research Council, the Cohort is made up of 3000 men and women born in Hertfordshire in the 1930s and still living there.
Research studies have examined the link between growth early in life and the risk of common diseases in later life, including the brittle bone disease osteoporosis and osteoarthritis.
Recent results have highlighted how our bones change as we get older, and the differences between men and women in this process. Researchers have also undertaken work to study the relationship between wear and tear arthritis in our joints and how well we are able to carry on with our day to day activities, finding that the more joints that are affected, the greater the impact.
John Harwood, one of the Cohort participants commented: "I have found all these studies really fascinating, and in some ways it has given me and M.O.T."
The University of Southampton recently hosted at an event at the Hertford Theatre for 400 Cohort participants and their families to see and hear the results for the research studies that they have been a part of.
Attendees viewed posters that gave information about the studies before a series of talks that fed back results of recent research.
Professor Cyrus Cooper, Director of the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton, said: “Fractures and bone loss due to trauma or disease are significant clinical and socioeconomic problems, problems that we must face head on. And to do that we need the help of our population. This event is an acknowledgement that none of our work would have been possible without the continued help and support of the Hertfordshire Cohort Study participants, and a chance to tell people about the results of the studies they have helped us with in recent years. We would also like to thank the General Practitioners of Hertfordshire who have helped us so much over the years.”