Early life exposures may lead to adverse effects on health in later life. The Boston birth Cohort study is designed to study a broad array of early life factors and their effects on maternal and child health outcomes across the life course.
Any woman admitted to the Labor and Delivery floor at the Boston Medical Center (BMC) who delivers a singleton live infant and meets our case (gestational age \<37 weeks or birthweight \<2,500 grams) or control (full term birth with birthweight \>2,500 grams) criteria will be eligible. Postnatal follow-up of enrolled mother-child pair is conducted from birth to age 21 years. The Boston Birth Cohort has high-quality biospecimen collection, and comprehensive epidemiological, clinical, and environmental exposure data via standardized questionnaire interview, measurements, and review of the electronic medical records.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
24,000
Boston Medical Center
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
RECRUITINGParticipants with Pregnancy complications - including hypertensive disorders and gestational diabetes
hypertensive disorders during pregnancy, gestational diabetes
Time frame: At birth
Birth outcomes - number of participants with preterm births
Birth outcomes are examined - preterm birth.
Time frame: At birth
Birth outcomes - birth weight in grams (g)
Birth outcomes are examined - birth weight (g)
Time frame: At birth
Child health outcomes - number of participants overweight or obese
overweight or obesity
Time frame: From birth to 21 years
Maternal health outcomes - number of participants with maternal diabetes
maternal diabetes
Time frame: After delivery to 21 years
child health outcome - systolic and diastolic blood pressure
blood pressure (mmHg)
Time frame: from birth to 21 years
child health outcome - participants with neuro-developmental disorders including autism and ADHD
neuro-developmental disorders including autism and ADHD
Time frame: from birth to 21 years
child health outcome - number of participants with asthma
asthma
Time frame: from birth to 21 years
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