An Inventory of European Birth Cohorts

Pansieri, Claudia; Pandolfini, Chiara; Clavenna, Antonio; Choonara, Imti; Bonati, Maurizio

doi:10.3390/ijerph17093071

Cited by 21 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 44 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The NASCITA cohort is based on community-level pediatric practice, involving the family pediatricians directly, as very few European cohorts do [ 29 ]. With their clinical practice, pediatricians are most in contact with patients and can promote study and action.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Informatics Methodology Used in the Web-Based Portal of the NASCITA Cohort Study: Development and Implementation Study

Zanetti¹,

Clavenna²,

Pandolfini³

et al. 2021

J Med Internet Res

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Many diseases occurring in adults can be pinned down to early childhood and birth cohorts are the optimal means to study this connection. Birth cohorts have contributed to the understanding of many diseases and their risk factors. Objective To improve the knowledge of the health status of Italian children early on and how it is affected by social and health determinants, we set up a longitudinal, prospective, national-level, population-based birth cohort, the NASCITA study (NAscere e creSCere in ITAlia). The main aim of this cohort is to evaluate physical, cognitive, and psychological development; health status; and health resource use in the first 6 years of life in newborns, and potential associated factors. A web-based system was set up with the aim to host the cohort; provide ongoing information to pediatricians and to families; and facilitate accurate data input, monitoring, and analysis. This article describes the informatics methodology used to set up and maintain the NASCITA cohort with its web-based platform, and provides a general description of the data on children aged over 7 months. Methods Family pediatricians were contacted for participation in the cohort and enrolled newborns from April 2019 to July 2020 at their first well-child visit. Information collected included basic data that are part of those routinely collected by the family pediatricians, but also parental data, such as medical history, characteristics and lifestyle, and indoor and outdoor environment. A specific web portal for the NASCITA cohort study was developed and an electronic case report form for data input was created and tested. Interactive data charts, including growth curves, are being made available to pediatricians with their patients’ data. Newsletters covering the current biomedical literature on child cohorts are periodically being put up for pediatricians, and, for parents, evidence-based information on common illnesses and problems in children. Results The entire cohort population consists of 5166 children, with 139 participating pediatricians, distributed throughout Italy. The number of children enrolled per pediatrician ranged from 1 to 100. The 5166 enrolled children represent 66.55% (5166/7763) of the children born in all of 2018 covered by the same pediatricians participating in the cohort. The number of children aged over 7 months at the time of these analyses, and for whom the most complete data were available upon initial analyses, was 4386 (2226/4381 males [50.81%] and 142/4370 twins [3.25%]). The age of the mothers at birth of the 4386 children ranged from 16 to 54 years. Most newborns’ mothers (3758/4367, 86.05%) were born in Italy, followed by mothers born in Romania (101/4367, 2.31%), Albania (75/4367, 1.72%), and Morocco (60/4367, 1.37%). Concerning the newborns, 138/4386 (3.15%) were born with malformations and 352/4386 (8.03%) had a disease, most commonly neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (n=52), neonatal jaundice (n=46), and neonatal hypoglycemia (n=45). Conclusions The NASCITA cohort is well underway and the population size will permit significant conclusions to be drawn. The key role of pediatricians in obtaining clinical data directly, along with the national-level representativity, will make the findings even more solid. In addition to promoting accurate data input, the multiple functions of the web portal, with its interactive platform, help maintain a solid relationship with the pediatricians and keep parents informed and interested in participating. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03894566; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03894566

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Informatics Methodology Used in the Web-Based Portal of the NASCITA Cohort Study: Development and Implementation Study

Zanetti¹,

Clavenna²,

Pandolfini³

et al. 2021

J Med Internet Res

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Numerous cohorts exist in Europe and are evolving based on expanding knowledge, e.g., the DOHaD concept, with a consequent increase in the collection of genetic material and in the number of areas studied by individual cohorts [ 19 ]. This capability of cohorts to study a large array of effects contemporaneously permits them to focus on specific issues when needed, including emerging situations or factors, such as the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the COVID-19 pandemic in general, with its short and long-term consequences.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pregnancy cohorts were selected from a review of the literature published by 20 May 2019 and indexed in the Medline (PubMed) and Embase databases. The details of this literature search have been described elsewhere [ 19 ]. Briefly, the two databases were searched for articles referring to birth cohorts based in a European country that collected longitudinal, prospective data on the children.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this regard, reviews of existing birth and pregnancy cohorts have been carried out to describe the differences and similarities between cohorts. These reviews have focused on different issues, such as types of exposures, specific health conditions, or geographic areas [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ]. One of these reviews recently reported on the current status of European cohorts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The report, however, focused on cohorts that started enrolment at birth, and not in pregnancy, to provide an overview of the current research topics of these birth cohorts and to understand how many addressed the impact of the family context (nurturing care) and the impact of the paediatricians’ care on child health and growth. The final goal was to provide recommendations for future birth cohort studies [ 19 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Intrauterine Exposures and Maternal Health Status during Pregnancy in Relation to Later Child Health: A Review of Pregnancy Cohort Studies in Europe

Pandolfini

Ricci

Siziba

et al. 2021

IJERPH

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We show a description of pregnancy cohorts in the European region. Our investigation identified 66 pregnancy cohorts, mostly hosted in Western Central Europe. Among these 66 cohorts, 24 began recruitment before the year 2000, while six cohorts are still enrolling. The most common topics were lifestyle, environment and nutrition with allergies and neurodevelopment being a minority. We observed a pattern of positive correlations between data collected using medical records, structured interviews, and the collection of biological samples. Objectively assessed data were negatively correlated with self-administered questionnaires. Eight cohorts addressed intrauterine exposure, focusing on environmental pollutants such as endocrine-disrupting chemicals. The effects of these compounds on the developing foetus have been studied greatly, but more research on their effects is still needed. Many cohorts investigated genetics through the collection of biological samples from the mothers and children, to improve knowledge on the mother-to-child transmission of genetic information, antibodies, microbiota, etc. Paediatric epidemiology represents an important field of research since preserving healthy lives from conception onwards is the most efficient way to improve population health. According to our report, it seems that this field of research is well developed in Europe, where numerous high profile studies are currently ongoing.

show abstract

Determinants of incomplete vaccination in children at age two in France: results from the nationwide ELFE birth cohort

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Incomplete vaccination in the pediatric population is a growing public health issue in high-income countries, but its determinants are poorly understood. Their identification is necessary to design target actions that can improve vaccination uptake. Our aim was to assess the determinants of incomplete vaccination in two-year-old children in France. Among the 18,329 children included in the 2011 ELFE French nationwide population-based birth cohort, we selected those for whom vaccination status was available at age two years. Incomplete vaccination was defined as ≥ 1 missing dose of recommended vaccines. Potential determinants of incomplete vaccination were identified by using logistic regression, taking into account attrition and missing data. Of the 5,740 (31.3%) children analyzed, 46.5% (95% confidence interval [CI] 44.7–48.0) were incompletely vaccinated. Factors independently associated with incomplete vaccination were having older siblings (adjusted odds ratio 1.18, 95% CI [1.03–1.34] and 1.28 [1.06–1.54] for one and ≥ 2 siblings, respectively, vs. 0), residing in an isolated area (1.92 [1.36–2.75] vs. an urban area), parents not following health recommendations or using alternative medicines (1.81 [1.41–2.34] and 1.23 [1.04–1.46], respectively, vs. parents confident in institutions and following heath recommendations), not being visited by a maternal and child protection service nurse during the child’s first two months (1.19 [1.03–1.38] vs. ≥ 1 visit), and being followed by a general practitioner (2.87 [2.52–3.26] vs. a pediatrician). Conclusions : Incomplete vaccination was highly prevalent in the studied pediatric population and was associated with several socio-demographic, parental, and healthcare service characteristics. These findings may help in designing targeted corrective actions. What is Known: • Incomplete vaccination in the pediatric population is a growing public health issue in high-income countries. • The partial understanding of the determinants of incomplete vaccination precludes the design of effective targeted corrective actions. What is New: • High prevalence of incomplete vaccination at age two years in France. • Incomplete vaccination was independently associated with several socio-demographic, parental, and healthcare service characteristics. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00431-022-04733-z.

show abstract

An Inventory of European Birth Cohorts

Cited by 21 publications

References 44 publications

Informatics Methodology Used in the Web-Based Portal of the NASCITA Cohort Study: Development and Implementation Study

Informatics Methodology Used in the Web-Based Portal of the NASCITA Cohort Study: Development and Implementation Study

Intrauterine Exposures and Maternal Health Status during Pregnancy in Relation to Later Child Health: A Review of Pregnancy Cohort Studies in Europe

Determinants of incomplete vaccination in children at age two in France: results from the nationwide ELFE birth cohort

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About