title: Rationale and design of the PRegnancy and Infant DEvelopment (PRIDE) Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To optimise the health of pregnant women and their children by evidence-based primary and secondary prevention, more scientific knowledge is needed. To overcome the methodological limitations of many studies on pregnancy and child health, which often use a retrospective design, we established the PRIDE (PRegnancy and Infant DEvelopment) Study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The PRIDE Study is a large prospective cohort study that aims at including 150 000-200 000 women in early pregnancy to study a broad range of research questions pertaining to pregnancy complications, maternal and child health, and adverse developmental effects in offspring. Women are invited to participate by their prenatal care provider before or at their first prenatal care visit and are asked to fill out web-based questionnaires in gestational weeks 8-10, 17, and 34, as well as biannually throughout childhood. In addition, a food frequency questionnaire and a paternal questionnaire are administered and medical records are consulted. Multiple validation studies will be conducted and paper-and-pencil questionnaires are available for women who cannot or do not want to participate through the Internet. For subgroups of participants, blood and saliva samples for genetic and biochemical analyses are being collected. The pilot phase, which started in July 2011, showed a response rate of 47%. Recruitment will eventually cover all of the Netherlands.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We expect that this study, which will be the largest birth cohort in the world so far, will provide new insights in the aetiology of disorders and diseases that originate in pregnancy. The PRIDE Study is open for collaboration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and HTA, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. M.vanGelder@ebh.umcn.nl
authors.forename: Marleen M H J
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: van Gelder
authors.forename: Reini W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Bretveld
authors.forename: Jolt
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Roukema
authors.forename: Morac
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Steenhoek
authors.forename: Joris
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van Drongelen
authors.forename: Marc E A
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Spaanderman
authors.forename: Dick
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: van Rumpt
authors.forename: Gerhard A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Zielhuis
authors.forename: Chris M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Verhaak
authors.forename: Nel
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Roeleveld
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000453:epidemiology; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000453:epidemiology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012107:Research Design / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult