Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T08:15:44.505Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Responsibility in the age of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) and epigenetics

Part of: Advancing the DOHaD Agenda in Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 August 2017

H. Ismaili M’hamdi ,
I. de Beaufort ,
B. Jack  and
E. A. P. Steegers
H. Ismaili M’hamdi*
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Ethics and Philosophy, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
I. de Beaufort
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Ethics and Philosophy, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
B. Jack
Affiliation:
Department of Family Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, USA
E. A. P. Steegers
Affiliation:
Division of Obstetrics and Prenatal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
*
*Address for correspondence: H. Ismaili M’hamdi, Medical Ethics and Philosophy, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, 3000 CA, The Netherlands. (Email h.ismailimhamdi@erasmusmc.nl)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Insights from the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease paradigm and epigenetics are elucidating the biological pathways through which social and environmental signals affect human health. These insights prompt a serious debate about how the structure of society affects health and what the responsibility of society is to counteract health inequalities. Unfortunately, oversimplified interpretations of insights from Developmental Origins of Health and Disease and epigenetics may be (mis)used to focus on the importance of individual responsibility for health rather than the social responsibility for health. In order to advance the debate on responsibility for health, we present an ethical framework to determine the social responsibility to counteract health inequalities. This is particularly important in a time where individual responsibility often justifies a passive response from policymakers.

Keywords

DOHaDepigeneticsethicsjusticeresponsibility
Type
Brief Report
Information
Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease , Volume 9 , Issue 1: Themed Issue: DOHaD AFRICA , February 2018 , pp. 58 - 62
Check for updates
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press and the International Society for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Hanson, M, Godfrey, KM, Lillycrop, KA, Burdge, GC, Gluckman, PD. Developmental plasticity and developmental origins of non-communicable disease: theoretical considerations and epigenetic mechanisms. Prog Biophys Mol Biol. 2011; 106, 272–280.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2. Messer, LC, Boone-Heinonen, J, Mponwane, L, Wallack, L, Thornburg, KL. Developmental programming: priming disease susceptibility for subsequent generations. Curr Epidemiol Rep. 2015; 2, 37–51.Google Scholar
3. Kuzawa, CW, Sweet, E. Epigenetics and the embodiment of race: developmental origins of US racial disparities in cardiovascular health. Am J Hum Biol. 2009; 21, 2–15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4. Richardson, SS, Daniels, CR, Gillman, MW, et al. Society: don’t blame the mothers. Nature. 2014; 512, 131–132.Google Scholar
5. Barker, D. Developmental origins of adult health and disease. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2004; 58, 114.Google Scholar
6. Gluckman, PD, Hanson, MA, Low, FM. The role of developmental plasticity and epigenetics in human health. Birth Defects Research C: Embryo Today. 2011; 93, 12–18.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7. Marmot, M, Allen, J, Bell, R, Bloomer, E, Goldblatt, P. WHO European review of social determinants of health and the health divide. Lancet. 2012; 380, 1011–1029.Google Scholar
8. St. Fleur, M, Damus, K, Jack, B. The future of preconception care in the United States: multigenerational impact on reproductive outcomes. Ups J Med Sci. 2016; 121, 211–215.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9. Barouki, R, Gluckman, PD, Grandjean, P, Hanson, M, Heindel, JJ. Developmental origins of non-communicable disease: implications for research and public health. Environ Health. 2012; 11, 10.1186.Google Scholar
10. Denktas, S, Poeran, J, van Voorst, SF, et al. Design and outline of the healthy pregnancy 4 all study. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2014; 14, 253.Google ScholarPubMed
11. Marmot, M, Bell, R. Fair society, healthy lives. Public Health. 2012; 126, S4–S10.Google Scholar
12. Nagel, T. Justice and nature. Oxford J Legal Stud. 1997; 17, 303.Google Scholar
13. Steegers, EAP, Barker, ME, Steegers‐Theunissen, RPM, Williams, MA. Societal valorisation of new knowledge to improve perinatal health: time to act. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol. 2016; 30, 201–204.Google Scholar
14. Poeran, J, Denktas, S, Birnie, E, Bonsel, GJ, Steegers, EAP. Urban perinatal health inequalities. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med. 2011; 24, 643–646.Google Scholar
15. Rawls, J. A Theory of Justice. 1971. Harvard University: Cambridge, MA.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16. Rawls, J. Political Liberalism . 2005. Columbia University Press: New York.Google Scholar
17. Jackson, MI. Early childhood WIC participation, cognitive development and academic achievement. Soc Sci Med. 2015; 126, 145–153.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
18. Erasmus Medical Centre Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Bureau Frontlijn Municipality of Rotterdam. Mothers of Rotterdam. Retrieved 6 June 2016 from https://www.moedersvanrotterdam.nl/wp-content/uploads/Factsheet-Moeders-van-Rotterdam-ENG-nummering-def2.pdf Google Scholar
19. Marmot, M. The Health Gap: The Challenge of an Unequal World. 2015. Bloomsbury Publishing: London.Google Scholar