Issues in Design and Implementation in an Urban Birth Cohort Study: The Syracuse AUDIT Project

Abstract

The Syracuse AUDIT (Assessment of Urban Dwellings for Indoor Toxics) project is a birth cohort study of wheezing in the first year of life in a low-income urban setting. Such studies are important because of the documented serious risks to children's health and the lack of attention and published work on asthma development and intervention in communities of this size. We studied 103 infants of mothers with asthma, living predominantly in inner-city households. Our study combines measurements of a large panel of indoor environmental agents, in-home infant assessments, and review of all prenatal and postnatal medical records through the first year of life. We found multiple environmental pollution sources and potential health risks in study homes including high infant exposure to tobacco smoke. The prevalence of maternal smoking during pregnancy was 54%; postnatal environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure was nearly 90%. The majority (73%) of homes showed signs of dampness. Participants' lives were complicated by poverty, unemployment and single-parenthood. Thirty-three percent of fathers were not involved with their children, and 62% of subjects moved at least once during the study period. These socioeconomic issues had an impact on project implementation and led to modification of study eligibility criteria. Extensive outreach, follow up, and relationship-building were required in order to recruit and retain families and resulted in considerable work overload for study staff. Our experiences implementing the project will inform further studies on this and other similar populations. Future reports on this cohort will address the role of multiple environmental variables and their effects on wheezing outcome during the first year of life.

Retention strategies in longitudinal cohort studies: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Waves Study Duration (years) No. Retention Strategies Clinical cohort studies Adolescent and adult non-injecting heroin users [ 32 ] Project Brown 300 16–40 98% 2 1.00 9 Adolescent/young adult cancer patients [ 33 ] Resilience in Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer Study 52 17.6 35% 3 1.50 4 Adolescent/Young Adult mobile young injection drug users [ 34 ] 101 22 48% 6 2.00 9 Adolescents and young adults with Type 1 Diabetes [ 35 ] Young Adult Diabetes Assessment (YADA) 204 17–18 97% 3 5.00 18 Adult asthmatic pregnant women [ 36 ] Syracuse AUDIT (Assessment of Urban Dwellings for Indoor Toxics) 103 25.4 86% 5 1.00 9 Adult cannabis users [ 37 ] 193 32 84% 90 0.25 3 Adult entitlement claimants from the Accident Compensation Corporation [ 38 ] Prospective Outcomes of Injury Study (POIS) 2856 18–64 79% 4 2.00 4 Adult major trauma patients [ 39 ] Victorian State Trauma Registry 1102 40 70% 2 0.50 <...>…”

Indicators of airborne fungal concentrations in urban homes: Understanding the conditions that affect indoor fungal exposures

“…The AUDIT study (Assessment of Urban Dwellings for Indoor Toxics) was approved by the institutional review board of the State University of New York Upstate Medical University and all participants provided written informed consent. Full details of the methods and issues involved in implementing the study have been published previously (Crawford et al, 2006). In summary, 103 pregnant women with asthma from the low-income, obstetric population of Syracuse were recruited into the study.…”

Indoor airborne fungi and wheeze in the first year of life among a cohort of infants at risk for asthma

“…The AUDIT (Assessment of Urban Dwellings for Indoor Toxics) project was a 2-year study of a cohort of infants at risk for the development of asthma due to a positive maternal history; the design and implementation have been described earlier (Crawford et al, 2006). In brief, mothers with asthma from the low-income urban obstetric population of Syracuse, NY, were recruited between April 2001 and August 2002.…”