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Study protocol: the Childhood to Adolescence Transition Study (CATS)
- Source :
- BMC Pediatrics
- Publisher :
- Springer Nature
-
Abstract
- Background: Puberty is a multifaceted developmental process that begins in late-childhood with a cascade of endocrine changes that ultimately lead to sexual maturation and reproductive capability. The transition through puberty is marked by an increased risk for the onset of a range of health problems, particularly those related to the control of behaviour and emotion. Early onset puberty is associated with a greater risk of cancers of the reproductive tract and cardiovascular disease. Previous studies have had methodological limitations and have tended to view puberty as a unitary process, with little distinction between adrenarche, gonadarche and linear growth. The Childhood to Adolescence Transition Study (CATS) aims to prospectively examine associations between the timing and stage of the different hormonally-mediated changes, as well as the onset and course of common health and behavioural problems that emerge in the transition from childhood to adolescence. The initial focus of CATS is on adrenarche, the first hormonal process in the pubertal cascade, which begins for most children at around 8 years of age. Discussion: CATS is uniquely placed to capture biological and phenotypic indices of the pubertal process from its earliest manifestations, together with anthropometric measures and assessment of child health and development. The cohort will provide rich detail of the development, lifestyle, external circumstances and health of children during the transition from childhood through to adolescence. Baseline associations between the hormonal measures and measures of mental health and behaviour will initially be examined cross-sectionally, and then in later waves longitudinally. CATS will make a unique contribution to the understanding of adrenarche and puberty in children's health and development. Methods/design: CATS is a longitudinal population-based cohort study. All Grade 3 students (8-9 years of age) from a stratified cluster sample of schools in Melbourne, Australia were invited to take part. In total, 1239 students and a parent/guardian were recruited to participate in the study. Measures are repeated annually and comprise student, parent and teacher questionnaires, and student anthropometric measurements. A saliva sample was collected from students at baseline and will be repeated at later waves, with the primary purpose of measuring hormonal indices of adrenarche and gonadarche. Refereed/Peer-reviewed
- Subjects :
- Male
puberty
Epidemiology
Disease
Developmental psychology
Study Protocol
0302 clinical medicine
cohort studies
Clinical Protocols
Protocol
Sexual maturity
Testosterone
Longitudinal Studies
030212 general & internal medicine
Child
Public health
Anthropometry
Mental Disorders
public health
Menarche
Cohort studies
epidemiology
Female
Cohort study
medicine.medical_specialty
Adolescent
03 medical and health sciences
medicine
Humans
Adrenarche
protocol
Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health
Gonadarche
Saliva
Psychiatry
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
hormones
business.industry
Puberty
adrenarche
Australia
Dehydroepiandrosterone
Adolescent Development
gonadarche
Hormones
adolescent
Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health
business
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 14712431
- Volume :
- 13
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- BMC Pediatrics
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....d0ba4da2897cc22f9114fd9caea24314
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2431-13-160