An Inventory of European Birth Cohorts

Claudia Pansieri, Chiara Pandolfini, Antonio Clavenna, Imti Choonara and Maurizio Bonati
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Claudia Pansieri: Department of Public Health, Laboratory for Mother and Child Health, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, 20156 Milan, Italy
Chiara Pandolfini: Department of Public Health, Laboratory for Mother and Child Health, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, 20156 Milan, Italy
Antonio Clavenna: Department of Public Health, Laboratory for Mother and Child Health, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, 20156 Milan, Italy
Imti Choonara: Academic Division of Child Health, University of Nottingham School of Medicine, Derby DE22 3DT, UK
Maurizio Bonati: Department of Public Health, Laboratory for Mother and Child Health, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, 20156 Milan, Italy

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 9, 1-17

Abstract: Many birth cohorts have been carried out. We performed a review of European birth cohorts to see the countries involved, provide a panorama of the current research topics and design, and, more generally, provide input for those creating collaborations and laying out guidelines aimed at unifying cohort methodologies to enable data merging and maximize knowledge acquisition. We searched PubMed and Embase for articles referring to longitudinal, prospective European birth cohorts and searched online cohort inventories. We found references to 111 birth cohorts, 45 of which began enrolment at birth. These cohorts began between 1921 and 2015 and represented 19 countries, with varying sample sizes (236 to 21,000 children). As of 5 January 2020, were still recruiting. The main areas addressed were allergic diseases (14 cohorts) and environmental exposure (f12 cohorts) and most cohorts were publicly funded. Given the large costs of running cohorts and the importance of long follow-up periods in identifying the risk factors for disorders thought to have a perinatal/early life etiology, current cohorts must be designed to answer research questions considering several aspects, from genetic ones to psychological, social, and environmental ones. Furthermore, universally recognized methodological aspects are needed to permit the comparison and merging of cohort data.

Keywords: birth cohort; infant; Europe; data collection; descriptive research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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