[2] The Dunedin Study was the idea of psychology student Phil Silva, who worked on a neonatology survey involving 250 children with learning and behavioural issues.
[4] The original pool of study members was selected from children born at the Queen Mary Maternity Centre in Dunedin who were still living in the wider Otago region three years later.
At the age 38 assessment, only one-third of members still resided in Dunedin; most of the remainder lived elsewhere in New Zealand and Australia.
At the most recent (age 45) completed assessment, 94% of all living eligible study members, or 938 people, participated.
[12] The resulting database has produced a wealth of information on many aspects of human health and development.
As of 2015[update] over 1,200 papers, reports, book chapters and other publications have been produced using findings from the study.
[4][5] The multidisciplinary aspect of the study has always been a central focus, with information ranging across:[citation needed] A book, From Child to Adult: Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, was published in 1996 and aimed at presenting the major findings in a form accessible to the non-specialist.