Left to right: Grace Walker, Geri McLeod, Martin Kennedy, Bridget Kinnersley, John Horwood, Janet Spittlehouse, Joe Boden, Bhuban Dhakal, James Foulds.
Not pictured: Emeritus Professor David M. Fergusson.
The Christchurch Health and Development Study (CHDS) has been in existence for over 40 years. During this time we have followed the health, education, and life progress of a group of 1,265 children born in the Christchurch (New Zealand) urban region in mid-1977.
The cohort has been studied from infancy into childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Data gathered over the course of the study now comprises some 50 million characters of information, with which the study has published over 500 scientific papers, reports, books and book chapters describing the life history of the CHDS cohort.
In 2019, we completed our participant interviews for their 40-year assessment.
Funding
Health Research Council of New Zealand
News
New study!
We're doing some new research into the effects of cannabis on the body. Here’s more info about it, please get in touch if you have any questions: chds.uoc@otago.ac.nz
“The study looks at how brain and heart activity, neuropsychological data, and biological markers are related to a history of cannabis use. It’s a smaller study to begin with, involving just 50 participants from within the CHDS cohort. We are comparing a group of participants who have significant history of cannabis use to those who do not.
In the first session, participants complete a short interview, a set of neuropsychological tests, blood tests for various biological markers and genetic data, and a urine test for the presence of cannabis and other drugs. The second session involves MRI scans of the heart and chest, and these look at both structure and function.
We commenced data collection at the start of June and will continue to schedule appointments over the coming months.”
We're always researching and writing - check out our Publications pages
June 2020
- A new website has launched that highlights the consequences of using cannabis, and informs voters ahead of the referendum: cannabisreferendum.co.nz. It's based on the recent Royal Society of New Zealand paper which uses evidence from the Dunedin and Christchurch studies: Patterns of recreational cannabis use in Aotearoa-New Zealand and their consequences: Evidence to inform voters in the 2020 referendum
- Joe guest writes a commentary for The Spinoff: What 40 years following thousands of NZ people tells us about cannabis harm
- We got some $$$! Our Senior Research Fellow, Geri, has just been awarded funding from the Mercia Barnes Trust for her study ‘The Christchurch Health and Development Study, Transitions to Menopause Project’. Geri and our student research assistant, Lana, will be pumping out those papers very soon!
May 2020
- Joe’s back on Newshub talking about attitudes to cannabis legalisation: Cannabis: More middle-aged Kiwis opposed to legalisation than in favour - survey
February 2020
- Joe's on TV again, this time talking to Newshub about recent findings about meth: Study shows link between methamphetamine and domestic violence
- Woop woop! Joe's now officially a Professor: 30 new Professors for the University of Otago
January 2020
- Our PhD student, Nathan, publishes his first paper! Commentary on Pacek et al. (2019): Cannabis and major depression: a network theory proposal [Commentary]
Read more in CHDS News
