Perinatal factors are critical in the ''programming'' of behavioral, endocrine and immunologic outcomes of adult life. Exposure to many factors in utero can drive fetal development along specific trajectories. Perinatal factors can also affect many diverse systems that have significant implications for long-term health outcomes. The findings from basic research are so diverse and suggest implications in many different arenas. Bringing together these findings, this book explores the evidence linking the role of early life events to long-term physical and psychological health outcomes. It pulls the research together and communicates the findings to the wider scientific and clinical communities.
