The Developmental Origins of Disease hypothesis has spurred increased interest in how prenatal exposures affect lifelong health, while mechanisms such as epigenetics may explain the multigenerational influences on health. Such factors are not well captured within conventional epidemiologic study designs. We explored the feasibility of collecting information on the offspring and grand-offspring of participants in a long-running study.

The Bogalusa Heart Study is a study, begun in 1973, of life-course cardiovascular health in a semirural population (65% white and 35% black).

Female participants who had previously provided information on their pregnancies were contacted to obtain contact information for their daughters aged 12 and older. Daughters were then contacted to obtain reproductive histories, and invited for a clinic or lab visit to measure cardiovascular risk factors.

Two hundred seventy-four daughters of 208 mothers were recruited; 81% (223) had a full clinic visit and 19% (51) a phone interview only. Forty-five percent of the daughters were black, and 55% white. Mean and median age at interview was 27, with 15% under the age of 18. The strongest predictors of participation were black race, recent maternal participation in the parent study, and living in or near Bogalusa. Simple correlations for cardiovascular risk factors across generations were between r = 0.19 (systolic blood pressure) and r = 0.39 (BMI, LDL).

It is feasible to contact the children of study participants even when participants are adults, and initial information on the grandchildren can also be determined in this manner.

Although numerous studies have examined the latent structure of major depression, less attention has focused on mania. This paper presents the first investigation outside the USA to evaluate the psychometric properties of the DSM-IV criterion B mania symptoms using item response theory (IRT).

Data were drawn from the Australian 2007 National Survey of Mental Health and Well-Being (NSMHWB, n = 8841). The psychometric performance of the mania symptoms was evaluated using a two-parameter logistic model. Because substance use disorders (SUDs) frequently co-occur with mania and can influence manic symptom expression, differential item functioning (DIF) between mania respondents with/without a SUD diagnosis was also assessed.

Factor analysis supported a unidimensional trait underlying mania. The grandiosity symptom displayed the highest discrimination whereas discrimination was lowest for decreased need for sleep. Relatively speaking, grandiosity tapped the severe end and increased goal-oriented activities tapped the mild end of the mania severity continuum. The symptoms generally performed equivalently between those with/without a SUD diagnosis, with one exception; the activities with painful consequences symptom was endorsed at lower levels of severity, and hence more frequently, by those with a SUD diagnosis versus those without a SUD diagnosis.

Accurate conceptualization of latent structure has crucial theoretical, statistical and clinical implications. The symptoms generally performed well in distinguishing between respondents with differing levels of liability, but others did not, suggesting modification is warranted to ensure optimal use in epidemiological samples. Given the dearth of psychometric evaluation studies of mania, further research replicating these results is necessary.