Abstract
The China birth cohort study (CBCS) is a prospective longitudinal, mega-cohort study and the first national-based birth cohort study, aiming to establish a birth cohort covering representative geographical areas of the whole of China to investigate risk factors for birth defects and develop strategies for their reduction. Pregnant women who are of Chinese nationality, are 6–13+6 weeks of gestation, plan to attend the routine antenatal examination and deliver in the study site, and give their informed, written consent are eligible to participate in this study. All participants are followed-up through an in-person interview at 20–23+6 weeks and again at 28–33+6 weeks of gestation, and at delivery, respectively. CBCS has been divided into three phases from 20th November 2017 to 31st December 2021, and the first two phases have now been completed on 29th February 2020, enrolling 120 377 eligible pregnant women during this period. During the same period a total of 40 837 participants had been followed up to the end of pregnancy. Study recruitment will continue until December 2021 to achieve the target of 500 000 participants. Meanwhile, biological samples including peripheral blood, amniocytes, cord blood, placenta, or umbilical cord tissue have been collected from participants according to various conditions. The incidence of birth defects in this group is 2.5% and congenital heart disease is the most common type of birth defect seen so far. A website is in the advanced stages of planning, to allow seamless data transfer and facilitate collaboration with groups around the world.
Highlights
Birth defects are an important cause of infant mortality and lifelong disability, which result in tremendous burden to families and the society
According to the 2010 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study, 6.4% of neonatal infant deaths are attributed to birth defects, which ranked 5th among all causes of death [1]
This burden appears not to be evenly distributed, rather it has been reported that the prevalence of all birth defects in live births ranges from a high of 8.2% to a low of 4.0% worldwide
Summary
Birth defects are an important cause of infant mortality and lifelong disability, which result in tremendous burden to families and the society. According to the 2010 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study, 6.4% of neonatal infant deaths are attributed to birth defects, which ranked 5th among all causes of death [1]. This burden appears not to be evenly distributed, rather it has been reported that the prevalence of all birth defects in live births ranges from a high of 8.2% to a low of 4.0% worldwide. We believe there is an important need to determine these exposotypes at the population level as they may help us to understand how exposures affect the occurrence of birth defects at the individual and systems level, and can lead to determining cause, effect, and susceptibilities. Most of the previous evidence comes from high income settings in the USA and Europe, with studies rather insufficient and limited in Chinese populations [5,6,7,8]
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