PROGRESS (Programming Research in Obesity, Growth, Environment and Social Stressors)

Abstract

The PROGRESS (Programming Research in Obesity, Growth, Environment and Social Stressors) study is a collaboration between the Icahn School of Medicine (Robert and Rosalind Wright), the Columbia University (Andrea Bacarelli) in the United States with the National Institute of Public Health (Martha Téllez-Rojo) in Mexico. It is a prospective birth cohort founded in 2007 that began recruiting women in the second trimester of pregnancy who attended IMSS clinics in Mexico City in order to study the effects of metals mixtures and social stressors on children's health and neurodevelopment. Mother/child pairs have been uninterrupted and periodically assessed through several follow-up visits during pregnancy, childbirth, and subsequent visits every 2 years to date. Since then, PROGRESS has expanded its scope including new outcomes as IQ, attention, visual memory, spatial memory, and learning in children, as well neuroimaging to study brain development, lung function, and more recently, renal health. PROGRESS measures environmental exposures to metals such as Pb, As, Mn, Cd, Hg, among others 15 elements in blood, hair and teeth and to other chemicals such as BPA and phthalates in urine. Other environmental exposures are measured including air pollution, as well as social stressors such as psychosocial stress, violence, depression, negative life events, anxiety and salivary cortisol. PROGRESS also has a rich sample repository with blood, urine, hair, teeth, nails, and saliva samples. PROGRESS uses state of the art methods in social science, epidemiology, and toxicology to assess transdisciplinary risk factors impacting mother and child health outcomes. PROGRESS may be the first birth cohort specifically designed to prospectively address the joint impact of chronic stress and toxic metals on child development.