1. Piccolipiù, a multicenter birth cohort in Italy: protocol of the study
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Elisa Piscianz, Domenico Di Lallo, Claudia Loganes, Antonio Arnofi, Paolo De Bartolo, Sonia Brescianini, Luca Ronfani, Franca Rusconi, Martina Culasso, Tullia Todros, Silvia Narduzzi, Sara Farchi, Rodolfo Cotichini, Franco Merletti, Daniela Porta, Francesco Forastiere, Valentina Fiano, Giulia Poggesi, Chiara Grasso, Morena Trevisan, Laura Serino, Patrizia Volpi, Carlo Piscicelli, Francesca La Rosa, Valentina Colelli, Giulia Giorgi, Paola Lorusso, Maura Bin, Laura Felice, Luigi Gagliardi, Valentina Ziroli, Gherardo Rapisardi, Tommaso Bernardini, Lorenzo Richiardi, Veronica Tognin, Sabrina Alviti, Alessandra Fioritto, Erica Valencic, Luana Penna, Valentina Martini, Isabella Mugelli, Antonella Ranieli, Maria Antonietta Stazi, Liza Vecchi Brumatti, Lorenza Nisticò, Virgilia Toccaceli, Alfio Frizzi, Assunta Rasulo, Veronica Montelatici, Emanuela Medda, Farchi, S, Forastiere, F, Vecchi Brumatti, L, Alviti, S, Arnofi, A, Bernardini, T, Bin, Maura, Brescianini, S, Colelli, V, Cotichini, R, Culasso, M, De Bartolo, P, Felice, L, Fiano, V, Fioritto, A, Frizzi, A, Gagliardi, L, Giorgi, G, Grasso, C, La Rosa, F, Loganes, Claudia, Lorusso, P, Martini, V, Merletti, F, Medda, E, Montelatici, V, Mugelli, I, Narduzzi, S, Nisticò, L, Penna, L, Piscianz, Elisa, Piscicelli, C, Poggesi, G, Porta, D, Ranieli, A, Rapisardi, G, Rasulo, A, Richiardi, L, Rusconi, F, Serino, L, Stazi, Ma, Toccaceli, V, Todros, T, Tognin, Veronica, Trevisan, M, Valencic, Erica, Volpi, P, Ziroli, V, Ronfani, Luca, and Di Lallo, D.
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Pediatrics ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Adolescent ,Child Welfare ,Early-life exposure ,Cohort Studies ,Birth cohort ,Study Protocol ,Child Development ,Environmental health ,medicine ,Humans ,Medical history ,Prospective Studies ,Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health ,Child ,Prospective cohort study ,Pregnancy ,business.industry ,Infant, Newborn ,Infant ,Infant and child health and development ,Environmental Exposure ,Environmental exposure ,medicine.disease ,Child development ,3. Good health ,Health promotion ,Italy ,Socioeconomic Factors ,Child, Preschool ,Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health ,Cohort ,business ,Cohort study - Abstract
Background: The fetal and infant life are periods of rapid development, characterized by high susceptibility to exposures. Birth cohorts provide unique opportunities to study early-life exposures in association with child development and health, as well as, with longer follow-up, the early life origin of adult diseases. Piccolipiù is an Italian birth cohort recently set up to investigate the effects of environmental exposures, parental conditions and social factors acting during pre-natal and early post-natal life on infant and child health and development. We describe here its main characteristics. Methods/design: Piccolipiù is a prospective cohort of expected 3000 newborns, who will be recruiting in six maternity units of five Italian cities (Florence, Rome, Trieste, Turin and Viareggio) since October 2011. Mothers are contacted during pregnancy or at delivery and are offered to participate in the study. Upon acceptance, their newborns are recruited at birth and followed up until at least 18 years of age. At recruitment, the mothers donate a blood sample and complete a baseline questionnaire. Umbilical cord blood, pieces of umbilical cord and heel blood spots are also collected. Postnatal follow-up currently occurs at 6, 12, and 24 months of age using on-line or postal self administered questionnaire; further questionnaires and medical examinations are envisaged. Questionnaires collect information on several factors, including mother’s and/or child’s environmental exposures, anthropometric measures, reproductive factors, diet, supplements, medical history, cognitive development, mental health and socioeconomic factors. Health promotion materials are also offered to parents. Discussion: Piccolipiù will broaden our understanding of the contribution of early-life factors to infant and child health and development. Several hypotheses on the developmental origins of health can be tested or piloted using the data collected from the Piccolipiù cohort. By pooling these data with those collected by other existing birth cohorts it will be possible to validate previous findings and to study rare exposures and outcomes.
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