Abstract
BackgroundThe Japan Environment and Children’s Study (JECS), known as Ecochil-Chosa in Japan, is a nationwide birth cohort study investigating the environmental factors that might affect children’s health and development. We report the baseline profiles of the participating mothers, fathers, and their children.MethodsFifteen Regional Centres located throughout Japan were responsible for recruiting women in early pregnancy living in their respective recruitment areas. Self-administered questionnaires and medical records were used to obtain such information as demographic factors, lifestyle, socioeconomic status, environmental exposure, medical history, and delivery information. In the period up to delivery, we collected bio-specimens, including blood, urine, hair, and umbilical cord blood. Fathers were also recruited, when accessible, and asked to fill in a questionnaire and to provide blood samples.ResultsThe total number of pregnancies resulting in delivery was 100,778, of which 51,402 (51.0%) involved program participation by male partners. Discounting pregnancies by the same woman, the study included 95,248 unique mothers and 49,189 unique fathers. The 100,778 pregnancies involved a total of 101,779 fetuses and resulted in 100,148 live births. The coverage of children in 2013 (the number of live births registered in JECS divided by the number of all live births within the study areas) was approximately 45%. Nevertheless, the data on the characteristics of the mothers and children we studied showed marked similarity to those obtained from Japan’s 2013 Vital Statistics Survey.ConclusionsBetween 2011 and 2014, we established one of the largest birth cohorts in the world.
Highlights
Publicity surrounding diseases caused by environmental pollution, such as Minamata disease and Itai-Itai disease,[1] ensures that most people know of the detrimental effects on health of highly concentrated chemicals
The Japanese Ministry of the Environment proposed a nationwide birth cohort study involving 100,000 mother-child pairs, and the Japan Environment and Children’s Study (JECS; Ecochil-Chosa in Japanese) was launched in 2011 to evaluate the effects of exposure to chemicals during the fetal stage and in early childhood on children’s health and development; follow-up is planned until the children are 13 years of age.[3]
This paper summarizes the baseline profiles of all participants at the start of the program
Summary
Publicity surrounding diseases caused by environmental pollution, such as Minamata disease (mercury poisoning) and Itai-Itai disease (cadmium poisoning),[1] ensures that most people know of the detrimental effects on health of highly concentrated chemicals. The effects of environmental pollution on children’s health, in particular, is of international concern, and the topic has been discussed at the G7=G8 Environment Ministers’ Meeting.[2] In response, the Japanese Ministry of the Environment proposed a nationwide birth cohort study involving 100,000 mother-child pairs (and fathers, if accessible), and the Japan Environment and Children’s Study (JECS; Ecochil-Chosa in Japanese) was launched in 2011 to evaluate the effects of exposure to chemicals during the fetal stage and in early childhood on children’s health and development; follow-up is planned until the children are 13 years of age.[3] Several secondary studies using data on approximately 10,000 women who gave birth in 2011 (the first year of recruitment) have already been published in peer-reviewed journals.[4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. We report the baseline profiles of the participating mothers, fathers, and their children
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