Studi epidemiologici osservazionali europei: le coorti dalla nascita

Abstract

Objective: in recent years there has been a growing interest in birth cohorts. The aim of this review is to know and understand the state of the art of European cohorts to date, with a focus on those that started data collection at birth. In particular, the aim is to provide an overview of current research topics and designs, and provide input for those creating collaborations and laying out guidelines aimed at unifying cohort methodologies to enable data merging and maximize knowledge acquisition. Methods: we searched PubMed and Embase for articles referring to longitudinal, prospective European birth cohorts, and searched online cohort inventories. Results: 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, 5 were still recruiting. The main areas addressed were allergic diseases (14 cohorts) and environmental exposure (12 cohorts) and most cohorts were publicly funded. Conclusion: 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.