Parents play a pivotal role in their children’s lives, but what if their health and lifestyle behaviours could also provide us with important clues about early childhood health?
We know the foundations for lifelong health are established early, with childhood and adolescence critical for the development of strong bones, muscles and healthy body composition.
While diet, exercise and other lifestyle factors play an important role, growing evidence suggests a child’s development is also linked to their parents. Genetics, the environment before birth and other parental characteristics may shape a child’s bone, muscle and growth throughout childhood. This is especially relevant to musculoskeletal health as fractures are common during the years when bones are still developing.
Examining parental factors could help to identify children at greater risk of adverse health outcomes and create opportunities for earlier prevention.
Health across generations
Dr Natalie Hyde and PhD candidate Mia Percival are building a better understanding of how parental factors may shape a child’s health and development utilising data from established cohort studies in the Population Health Theme.
Drawing on data from the long-running Geelong Osteoporosis Study, they explored whether a parent’s fracture history was associated with fracture risk in their children. Their findings revealed a distinct sex-specific pattern, with maternal fracture history linked to increased early-life fracture risk in daughters and paternal fracture risk in sons.
Building on parental influence, they also examined the role of fathers by reviewing evidence on how paternal health and exposures around conception and pregnancy may influence their children’s bone, muscle and growth. Factors including a father’s body mass index, weight, height and smoking were associated with measures of offspring growth, however evidence on musculoskeletal health remains limited.
Using data from the Vitamin D in Pregnancy (VIP) Study, which recruited pregnant women from the University Hospital Geelong, they explored whether paternal age was associated with bone health and soft tissue composition in their children. The findings showed that advanced paternal age was associated with lower measures of offspring bone health, but not with soft tissue composition or fracture risk.
Together, the findings add to growing evidence that both maternal and paternal factors can provide important insights into how children grow and develop, while highlighting areas where further research is needed.
Earlier insights for better prevention
Looking to parents could help build a clearer picture of a child’s future health.
For fractures, this could mean identifying children at greater risk and supporting earlier strategies to strengthen bone health before a fracture occurs.
More research into paternal health could establish how modifiable factors such as diet, exercise, smoking and alcohol use influence child health, with this knowledge informing health advice for prospective fathers before conception.
Building on this evidence is essential for understanding how parental health can inform earlier prevention and support healthy development from pre-conception and across the lifespan.
Where next?
Further research is needed to confirm these findings in older age groups and in other populations. Analyses are currently underway using data from the Raine Study in Western Australia, which will provide an opportunity to replicate these results and assess whether the observed associations persist later in life.
A key priority for the Population Health Theme is the upcoming follow-up of participants from the VIP Study. In 2027, offspring will be invited to complete a follow-up questionnaire, providing an important opportunity to collect further information about the cohort as they transition into early adulthood. This additional data will enable researchers to examine longer-term health outcomes and assess whether the associations observed between paternal age and offspring bone health persist.
Future work will also explore broader intergenerational influences, including whether grandparental characteristics contribute to offspring bone health across generations. This may provide new insights into factors underlying offspring bone health.
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