title: Pregnancy and birth cohort resources in europe: a large opportunity for aetiological child health research.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  During the past 25 years, many pregnancy and birth cohorts have been established. Each cohort provides unique opportunities for examining associations of early-life exposures with child development and health. However, to fully exploit the large amount of available resources and to facilitate cross-cohort collaboration, it is necessary to have accessible information on each cohort and its individual characteristics. The aim of this work was to provide an overview of European pregnancy and birth cohorts registered in a freely accessible database located at http://www.birthcohorts.net.
  
  
  METHODS
  European pregnancy and birth cohorts initiated in 1980 or later with at least 300 mother-child pairs enrolled during pregnancy or at birth, and with postnatal data, were eligible for inclusion. Eligible cohorts were invited to provide information on the data and biological samples collected, as well as the timing of data collection.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total, 70 cohorts were identified. Of these, 56 fulfilled the inclusion criteria encompassing a total of more than 500,000 live-born European children. The cohorts represented 19 countries with the majority of cohorts located in Northern and Western Europe. Some cohorts were general with multiple aims, whilst others focused on specific health or exposure-related research questions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This work demonstrates a great potential for cross-cohort collaboration addressing important aspects of child health. The web site, http://www.birthcohorts.net, proved to be a useful tool for accessing information on European pregnancy and birth cohorts and their characteristics.
authors.affiliation: Section of Social Medicine, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen. pernillelarsen@sund.ku.dk
authors.forename: Pernille Stemann
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Larsen
authors.forename: Mads
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authors.lastname: Kamper-Jørgensen
authors.forename: Ashley
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authors.lastname: Adamson
authors.forename: Henrique
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authors.forename: Jens Peter
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authors.forename: Sonia
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authors.lastname: Brophy
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authors.forename: Marie-Aline
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authors.lastname: Devereux
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authors.lastname: Eggesbø
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authors.lastname: Fantini
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authors.lastname: Gehring
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authors.lastname: Heude
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authors.lastname: Inskip
authors.forename: Vincent W V
authors.initials: VW
authors.lastname: Jaddoe
authors.forename: Debbie A
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authors.lastname: Lawlor
authors.forename: Johnny
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authors.lastname: Ludvigsson
authors.forename: Cecily
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kelleher
authors.forename: Wieland
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authors.lastname: Kiess
authors.forename: Berthold
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Koletzko
authors.forename: Claudia Elisabeth
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Kuehni
authors.forename: Inger
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authors.lastname: Kull
authors.forename: Henriette Boye
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Kyhl
authors.forename: Per
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authors.lastname: Magnus
authors.forename: Isabelle
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authors.lastname: Momas
authors.forename: Dierdre
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authors.lastname: Murray
authors.forename: Juha
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authors.lastname: Pekkanen
authors.forename: Kinga
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authors.lastname: Polanska
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authors.forename: Lorenzo
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authors.lastname: Richiardi
authors.forename: Nel
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authors.lastname: Roeleveld
authors.forename: Anne Mette
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authors.lastname: Skovgaard
authors.forename: Radim J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Sram
authors.forename: Katrine
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authors.lastname: Strandberg-Larsen
authors.forename: Carel
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authors.lastname: Thijs
authors.forename: Manon
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authors.lastname: Van Eijsden
authors.forename: John
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authors.forename: Anne-Marie Nybo
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authors.lastname: Andersen
mesh_terms: D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006295:Health Resources / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007229:Infant Welfare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011247:Pregnancy