How should a birth cohort study be organised? Experience from the German MAS cohort study. 2002

Renate Nickel, and Bodo Niggemann, and Christoph Grüber, and Michael Kulig, and Ulrich Wahn, and Susanne Lau
University Children's Hospital, Department of Pneumology and Immunology, Charité Campus Virchow, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany.

Birth cohort studies offer the opportunity to study average risks, rates and occurrence times of disease longitudinally from birth. The effect of genetic and environmental factors and their interactions can be studied. Furthermore, quantity and duration of exposure to environmental agents can be evaluated prospectively. However, prospective birth cohort studies are expensive, labour intensive and take many years to complete. Loss of subjects over time as well as recall bias complicate the interpretation of observations. This paper summarises the potential pitfalls of such studies and discusses the experience of the German Multicentre Allergy Study (MAS), which began in 1990 in five German cities and included 1314 newborns for the study of the natural course of atopic diseases.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D006967 Hypersensitivity Altered reactivity to an antigen, which can result in pathologic reactions upon subsequent exposure to that particular antigen. Allergy,Allergic Reaction,Allergic Reactions,Allergies,Hypersensitivities,Reaction, Allergic,Reactions, Allergic
D007231 Infant, Newborn An infant during the first 28 days after birth. Neonate,Newborns,Infants, Newborn,Neonates,Newborn,Newborn Infant,Newborn Infants
D012107 Research Design A plan for collecting and utilizing data so that desired information can be obtained with sufficient precision or so that an hypothesis can be tested properly. Experimental Design,Data Adjustment,Data Reporting,Design, Experimental,Designs, Experimental,Error Sources,Experimental Designs,Matched Groups,Methodology, Research,Problem Formulation,Research Methodology,Research Proposal,Research Strategy,Research Technics,Research Techniques,Scoring Methods,Adjustment, Data,Adjustments, Data,Data Adjustments,Design, Research,Designs, Research,Error Source,Formulation, Problem,Formulations, Problem,Group, Matched,Groups, Matched,Matched Group,Method, Scoring,Methods, Scoring,Problem Formulations,Proposal, Research,Proposals, Research,Reporting, Data,Research Designs,Research Proposals,Research Strategies,Research Technic,Research Technique,Scoring Method,Source, Error,Sources, Error,Strategies, Research,Strategy, Research,Technic, Research,Technics, Research,Technique, Research,Techniques, Research
D005858 Germany A country in central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark. The capital is Berlin.
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D015331 Cohort Studies Studies in which subsets of a defined population are identified. These groups may or may not be exposed to factors hypothesized to influence the probability of the occurrence of a particular disease or other outcome. Cohorts are defined populations which, as a whole, are followed in an attempt to determine distinguishing subgroup characteristics. Birth Cohort Studies,Birth Cohort Study,Closed Cohort Studies,Cohort Analysis,Concurrent Studies,Historical Cohort Studies,Incidence Studies,Analysis, Cohort,Cohort Studies, Closed,Cohort Studies, Historical,Studies, Closed Cohort,Studies, Concurrent,Studies, Historical Cohort,Analyses, Cohort,Closed Cohort Study,Cohort Analyses,Cohort Studies, Birth,Cohort Study,Cohort Study, Birth,Cohort Study, Closed,Cohort Study, Historical,Concurrent Study,Historical Cohort Study,Incidence Study,Studies, Birth Cohort,Studies, Cohort,Studies, Incidence,Study, Birth Cohort,Study, Closed Cohort,Study, Cohort,Study, Concurrent,Study, Historical Cohort,Study, Incidence
D015337 Multicenter Studies as Topic Works about controlled studies which are planned and carried out by several cooperating institutions to assess certain variables and outcomes in specific patient populations, for example, a multicenter study of congenital anomalies in children. Multicenter Trials,Multicentre Studies as Topic,Multicentre Trials,Multicenter Trial,Multicentre Trial,Trial, Multicenter,Trial, Multicentre,Trials, Multicenter,Trials, Multicentre
D018579 Patient Selection Criteria and standards used for the determination of the appropriateness of the inclusion of patients with specific conditions in proposed treatment plans and the criteria used for the inclusion of subjects in various clinical trials and other research protocols. Patient Recruitment,Research Subject Recruitment,Selection Criteria,Research Subject Selection,Selection for Treatment,Selection of Research Volunteers,Selection of Subjects,Criteria, Selection,Recruitment, Patient,Recruitment, Research Subject,Recruitments, Research Subject,Research Subject Recruitments,Research Subject Selections,Research Volunteers Selection,Research Volunteers Selections,Selection for Treatments,Selection, Patient,Selection, Research Subject,Selections, Research Subject,Subject Recruitment, Research,Subject Recruitments, Research,Subject Selection, Research,Subject Selections, Research,Subjects Selection,Subjects Selections,Treatment, Selection for,Treatments, Selection for,Volunteers Selection, Research

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