Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study

The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study (often referred to as the Dunedin Longitudinal Study) is a long-running cohort study of 1037 people born between 1 April 1972 and 31 March 1973 in Dunedin, New Zealand. The original pool of study members was selected from children born at the Queen Mary Maternity Centre in Dunedin who were still living in the wider Otago region three years later. In early years the study was not well funded and the local community helped collect data. The study members include 535 males and 503 females, 1013 singletons and 12 sets of twins. At the age 38 assessment, only one-third of members still resided in Dunedin, while most of the remainder lived elsewhere in New Zealand and Australia. Study members were assessed at age three, and then at ages 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 18, 21, 26, 32 and, most recently, at age 38 (2010–2012). Future assessments are scheduled for ages 44 and 50. 'Phase 45' will start in April 2017. Since 2000, Professor Richie Poulton has been the study's director.