19 May 1944–3 October 2018

PhD (Epidemiology/Paediatrics) University of Otago 1989, BA (Hons) (Psychology) Victoria University of Wellington 1969, Elected Fellow of Royal Society of New Zealand (FRSNZ) 2006, Honorary Fellow of New Zealand Psychological Society (Hon.FNZPS) 2006, Honorary Fellow of Royal Australasian College of Physicians (Hon.FRACP) 2007, Distinguished Research Medal, University of Otago 2010

For nearly 40 years, Emeritus Professor David Fergusson was the Director of the Christchurch Health and Development Study (CHDS), a longitudinal study of a cohort of 1,265 children born in Christchurch in mid-1977. His longitudinal research enlightened debate and informed government policy decisions on a wide range of controversial, but significant topics.

In the early days of the study, one of the main areas of interest was lower respiratory illness among the cohort. Emeritus Professor Fergusson found a significant increase in risk of bronchitis and pneumonia for children of smokers. This study was one of the first to quantify the risk of lower respiratory infection related to parental smoking, and in later years these findings were replicated in cohorts around the world.

Another area of interest in the early years of the study was an examination of swimming pool safety fences, which were not mandatory at the time. A CHDS analysis showed that a significant number of children had experienced accidents that may have led to drowning if parents had not been alert, and that fencing would have reduced the number of accidents considerably. This research proved instrumental in the development of local by-laws requiring fencing for domestic swimming pools throughout New Zealand, leading to a reduction in the rate of accidental drownings.

A further important area was the study of lead exposure in the cohort. Lead exposure was measured using shed deciduous teeth, and the level of lead exposure was shown to be linked to increased rates of childhood behaviour disorder, and lower levels of school achievement and IQ. This work influenced government policy, contributing to the evidence leading to the removal of lead from petrol in New Zealand.

One of the primary areas of impact from the early years of the study was the study of childhood conduct problems, and the extent to which these impaired school performance and overall adjustment. Later findings would demonstrate that conduct disorders if left untreated had wide-ranging implications for adult functional outcomes, including offending, personal relationships, employment and other life-course outcomes. This series of studies led Emeritus Professor Fergusson champion policy development at government level to enhance treatment and prevention services for childhood behaviour problems.

In the 1990s, as the cohort entered adolescence and early adulthood, the focus of the study changed to examine issues concerning mental health, substance use and psychosocial adjustment. As part of this, Emeritus Professor Fergusson decided to ask detailed questions concerning cannabis use among the cohort. What resulted from this was a quarter-century’s worth of data on cannabis use and the problems associated with cannabis use, which constitute some of the best and most complete data on cannabis use in a single cohort in the world. This data led to a series of landmark publications outlining the harms associated with cannabis use.

In later years, as cohort members grew into adulthood, Emeritus Professor Fergusson became interested in questions concerning economic adjustment and family life, as well as looking back at ‘big picture’ issues such as overall exposure to adversity in childhood. One of the key observations he made from this work was that adversity is best understood as being cumulative; young people who experience adverse circumstances are often exposed to a range of adversities, and it is the total burden of adversity, more so than specific kinds of adversity, that are predictive of poorer outcomes in adulthood.

Emeritus Professor Fergusson’s proudest achievement was the development of Early Start, an early intervention service for high-needs families with young children. Working with a consortium of providers including Plunket, Pegasus Health and Māori representatives, Emeritus Professor Fergusson and his colleagues developed Early Start as a programme of early childhood home visitation for at-risk families. Early Start has now been in existence for over 20 years, and has been shown via randomised controlled trial data to be one of the most efficacious home visitation programmes in the world for reducing the risk of child abuse among high-needs families. The findings of the randomised trial have been used to benchmark the performance of wider Government Family Start early intervention services.

Emeritus Professor Fergusson is survived by his wife Prue Wignall, and his four children, Jonathan, Rebecca, Jeremy and Matthew.

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