Cohort Profile: The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children: ALSPAC mothers cohort

By A. Fraser, C. Macdonald-Wallis, K. Tilling, A. Boyd, J. Golding, George Davey Smith, J. Henderson, J. Macleod, Lynn Molloy, A. Ness and 3 more. International Journal of Epidemiology, 2012

2,402 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Summary The Avon Longitudinal Study of Children and Parents (ALSPAC) was established to understand how genetic and environmental characteristics influence health and development in parents and children. All pregnant women resident in a defined area in the South West of England, with an expected date of delivery between 1st April 1991 and 31st December 1992, were eligible and 13 761 women (contributing 13 867 pregnancies) were recruited. These women have been followed over the last 19–22 years and have completed up to 20 questionnaires, have had detailed data abstracted from their medical records and have information on any cancer diagnoses and deaths through record linkage. A follow-up assessment was completed 17–18 years postnatal at which anthropometry, blood pressure, fat, lean and bone mass and carotid intima media thickness were assessed, and a fasting blood sample taken. The second follow-up clinic, which additionally measures cognitive function, physical capability, physical activity (with accelerometer) and wrist bone architecture, is underway and two further assessments with similar measurements will take place over the next 5 years. There is a detailed biobank that includes DNA, with genome-wide data available on >10 000, stored serum and plasma taken repeatedly since pregnancy and other samples; a wide range of data on completed biospecimen assays are available. Details of how to access these data are provided in this cohort profile.

Subfields: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis, Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health, Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/8ca3426161cb12e3d593821daf2d9a58e260de23

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Citations in the corpus

A comparison of approaches for assessing covariate effects in latent class analysis (2015, neutral): “ Methods Participants The sample comprised participants from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) (Boyd et al., 2013; Fraser et al., 2013; Golding, Pembrey, & Jones, 2001).”
Polygenic prediction of weight and obesity trajectories from birth to adulthood (2019, background): “F) Within the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) cohort, 7,861 participants were stratified according to decile of the GPS distribution.”
ASD and schizophrenia show distinct developmental profiles in common genetic overlap with population-based social-communication difficulties (2017, positive): “Population-based social-communication difficulties— Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) were carried out in ALSPAC participants, a UK population-based longitudinal pregnancy-ascertained birth-cohort (estimated birth date: 1991 to 1992)30,31.”
Collider scope: when selection bias can substantially influence observed associations (2016, methodology): “Initially, 14 541 pregnant women who were expected to give birth between 1 April 1991 and 31 December 1992 were recruited into the study in the South West region of England.(19) The study website contains details of all data available through a fully searchable data dictionary: [http://www.”
The proportion of missing data should not be used to guide decisions on multiple imputation (2019, methodology): “The authors thank the midwives for their help in recruiting the families and the whole ALSPAC team, which includes interviewers, computer and laboratory technicians, clerical workers, research scientists, volunteers, managers, receptionists, and nurses.”
Association between alcohol and cardiovascular disease: Mendelian randomisation analysis based on individual participant data (2014, neutral): “The department of Pharmacoepidemiology and Clinical Pharmacology, Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, has received unrestricted research funding from the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMW), the Dutch Health Care Insurance Board (CVZ), the Royal Dutch Phar”