TY - JOUR
T1 - Lifestyle during pregnancy: neurodevelopmental effects at 5 years of age. The design and implementation of a prospective follow-up study
AU - Kesmodel, Ulrik Schiøler
AU - Underbjerg, Mette
AU - Kilburn, Tina Røndrup
AU - Bakketeig, Leiv
AU - Mortensen, Erik Lykke
AU - Landrø, Nils Inge
AU - Schendel, Diana
AU - Bertrand, Jacquelyn
AU - Grove, Jakob
AU - Ebrahim, Shahul
AU - Thorsen, Poul
N1 - Keywords: Alcohol Drinking; Child Behavior Disorders; Child Development; Child, Preschool; Cognition Disorders; Cohort Studies; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Food Habits; Humans; Intelligence; Life Style; Maternal Exposure; Pregnancy; Psychomotor Performance; Questionnaires; Smoking
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that even mild exposure to alcohol, caffeine, smoking, and poor diet may have adverse long-term neurodevelopmental effects. In addition, there is evidence that timing of high exposures (e.g. binge drinking) can have particularly negative effects. This paper describes the design and implementation of The Lifestyle During Pregnancy Study addressing major methodological challenges for studies in this field. The study examines the effects of lifestyle during pregnancy on offspring neurodevelopment. METHODS: In 2003, we initiated a prospective follow-up of 1750 mother-child pairs, sampled on the basis of maternal alcohol drinking patterns from The Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC), a study of 101,042 pregnancies enrolled 1997-2003. Data collection in the DNBC involved four prenatal and postnatal maternal interviews, providing detailed information on maternal alcohol drinking patterns before and during pregnancy, caffeine intake, smoking, diet, and other lifestyle, medical, and sociodemographic factors. RESULTS: At the age of 5 years, the children and their mothers participated in a comprehensive assessment of neurobehavioural development focusing on global cognition, specific cognitive functions, and behaviour. Two new tests assessing attention and speed of information processing among children were developed, and data on important potential confounders such as maternal intelligence quotient, vision, and hearing abilities were collected. Efforts were made to standardise procedures and obtain high inter-rater reliability. CONCLUSIONS: We expect that the study will illuminate the significance or lack of significance of maternal lifestyle during pregnancy and contribute to better understanding the effects of alcohol drinking during pregnancy at low to moderate consumption levels.
AB - BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that even mild exposure to alcohol, caffeine, smoking, and poor diet may have adverse long-term neurodevelopmental effects. In addition, there is evidence that timing of high exposures (e.g. binge drinking) can have particularly negative effects. This paper describes the design and implementation of The Lifestyle During Pregnancy Study addressing major methodological challenges for studies in this field. The study examines the effects of lifestyle during pregnancy on offspring neurodevelopment. METHODS: In 2003, we initiated a prospective follow-up of 1750 mother-child pairs, sampled on the basis of maternal alcohol drinking patterns from The Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC), a study of 101,042 pregnancies enrolled 1997-2003. Data collection in the DNBC involved four prenatal and postnatal maternal interviews, providing detailed information on maternal alcohol drinking patterns before and during pregnancy, caffeine intake, smoking, diet, and other lifestyle, medical, and sociodemographic factors. RESULTS: At the age of 5 years, the children and their mothers participated in a comprehensive assessment of neurobehavioural development focusing on global cognition, specific cognitive functions, and behaviour. Two new tests assessing attention and speed of information processing among children were developed, and data on important potential confounders such as maternal intelligence quotient, vision, and hearing abilities were collected. Efforts were made to standardise procedures and obtain high inter-rater reliability. CONCLUSIONS: We expect that the study will illuminate the significance or lack of significance of maternal lifestyle during pregnancy and contribute to better understanding the effects of alcohol drinking during pregnancy at low to moderate consumption levels.
U2 - 10.1177/1403494809357093
DO - 10.1177/1403494809357093
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 20064917
VL - 38
SP - 208
EP - 219
JO - Acta socio-medica Scandinavica
JF - Acta socio-medica Scandinavica
SN - 1403-4948
IS - 2
ER -