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.
Highlights
Cohort studies collect data on a group of people in order to identify and quantify the relationship between exposure and outcome
5444 articles referred to 111 birth cohorts, while 3128 articles were not pertinent mostly because they referred to case-control studies and retrospective studies (Figure 2)
When the online birth cohort databases were searched for additional European cohorts, none were found
Summary
Cohort studies collect data on a group of people in order to identify and quantify the relationship between exposure and outcome. In retrospective cohort studies the population and its medical events or outcomes are examined by looking at the past. The limitations of this kind of study are linked to the limited control that the investigator has over data collection, increasing the risk of incomplete, inaccurate or inconsistent data [3]. Registries can be used to collect data prospectively and continuously, as in the collection of medical record data, reflecting clinical practice. Both cohorts and registries can be started at different times, based on their aims, can be used for different scopes, and can collect data at different time points
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