KEY MESSAGES: A number of findings with a translational and clinical focus have already emerged. In the mothers, we found that changes and differences in food consumption varied across ethnic groups, with persistence of traditional beliefs, during pregnancy and the postpartum period. During pregnancy, higher maternal glucose levels, even in the absence of gestational diabetes mellitus, had graded relations with infant adiposity. Relations between maternal emotional health and birth outcomes and neurodevelopment have been identified. Genotype (25%) and in particular gene × environment interactions (75%) shape interindividual variations in the DNA methylome at birth. The complex effects of fixed genetic variations and different in utero environments can influence the epigenetic status at birth and the later-life phenotype.

METHODS: Period abridged life tables were constructed to derive the life expectancy of the Singapore population from 1965 to 2009 using data from the Department of Statistics and the Registry of Births and Deaths, Singapore.

RESULTS: All 3 of Singapore's main ethnic groups, and both genders, experienced an increase in life expectancy at birth and at 65 years from 1965 to 2009, though at substantially different rates. Although there has been a convergence in life expectancy between Indians and Chinese, the (substantial) gap between Malays and the other two ethnic groups has remained. Females continued to have a higher life expectancy at birth and at 65 years than males throughout this period, with no evidence of convergence.