Pregnancy and birth cohort resources in Europe

Pernille Stemann Larsen, Mads Kamper-Jørgensen, Ashley Adamson, Henrique Barros, Jens Peter Bonde, Sonia Brescianini, Sinead Brophy, Maribel Casas, Marie-Aline Charles, Graham Devereux, Merete Eggesbø, Maria Pia Fantini, Urs Frey, Ulrike Gehring, Regina Grazuleviciene, Tine Brink Henriksen, Irva Hertz-Picciotto, Barbara Heude, Daniel O Hryhorczuk, Hazel Inskip, Vincent W V Jaddoe, Debbie A Lawlor, Johnny Ludvigsson, Cecily Kelleher, Wieland Kiess, Berthold Koletzko, Claudia Elisabeth Kuehni, Inger Kull, Henriette Boye Kyhl, Per Magnus, Isabelle Momas, Dierdre Murray, Juha Pekkanen, Kinga Polanska, Daniela Porta, Gry Poulsen, Lorenzo Richiardi, Nel Roeleveld, Anne Mette Skovgaard, Radim J Sram, Katrine Strandberg-Larsen, Carel Thijs, Manon Van Eijsden, John Wright, Martine Vrijheid, Anne-Marie Nybo Andersen

During the past 25 years, many pregnancy and birth cohorts have been established. Each cohort provides unique opportunities for examining associations of early-life exposures with child development and health. However, to fully exploit the large amount of available resources and to facilitate cross-cohort collaboration, it is necessary to have accessible information on each cohort and its individual characteristics. The aim of this work was to provide an overview of European pregnancy and birth cohorts registered in a freely accessible database located at http://www.birthcohorts.net. European pregnancy and birth cohorts initiated in 1980 or later with at least 300 mother-child pairs enrolled during pregnancy or at birth, and with postnatal data, were eligible for inclusion. Eligible cohorts were invited to provide information on the data and biological samples collected, as well as the timing of data collection. In total, 70 cohorts were identified. Of these, 56 fulfilled the inclusion criteria encompassing a total of more than 500,000 live-born European children. The cohorts represented 19 countries with the majority of cohorts located in Northern and Western Europe. Some cohorts were general with multiple aims, whilst others focused on specific health or exposure-related research questions. This work demonstrates a great potential for cross-cohort collaboration addressing important aspects of child health. The web site, http://www.birthcohorts.net, proved to be a useful tool for accessing information on European pregnancy and birth cohorts and their characteristics.