The National Birth Cohort is relying on The National Key Research and Development Program of China and Nanjing Medical University School of Public Health, co-operated by several departments. It is a large prospective cohort study using the family as the unit. This is a cohort study on the effects of multi-factors including genetics, nutrition, diet, habits and gene-environment interactions during human early life on birth outcomes and health in the offspring. This cohort will continue for more than five years, obtaining a series of baseline data including environmental exposure during pregnancy, information at birth, children development. Researchers from various majors can participate with different research purposes and bring out key reproductive and developmental problems and influencing factors during human life activities, revealing their inner causal association and providing advice and guidance in the field of reproduction & development, maternal and child health, environmental control and so on.
Introduction
The large prospective birth cohort study is a basic national strategic project. Its implementation is significant and will bring unparalleled potential value not only in field of prenatal and postnatal care, but other biomedical areas. The data are our unique resources and outcomes in reproductive health in China, not only laying a solid foundation at the would science forefront, but also providing first-hand information on enhancing people’s reproductive health level, improving the quality of population, reducing the rate of birth defects, preventing and controlling congenital disease. The cohort provides important baseline data and support for the implementation of national policies.
Goals
1. National Birth Cohort (CNBC): CNBC will be a world-famous national birth cohort with Birth Cohort Research Center as the center. When completed, it will build up a nationwide birth cohort research network containing more than 20 provinces. The objects joined in are pregnant women and children. The cohort study will trace each pregnant woman and collect information and biological samples at early, middle and late of the pregnancy and delivery. Information and biological samples in the offspring will be collected when they are reaching 1 month, 6 months, 1 year, and 3 years. The total number of variables will exceed 20 billion and the number of samples will exceed 30 million.
2. The birth cohort biological samples and data repositories: Advanced International management conception and techniques will be followed. Automated information collection system and biological storage management system will be applied. With standardized operation, new concept and large scale, a global-leading national birth cohort biological database and data repository will be built in the near future.
3. The results of scientific research: a. The establishment and application of the birth cohort will provide powerful support for biomedical research with data, samples and disease clues. b. It will help improve and refine diagnostic criteria and classification of birth defects cause, achieve molecular typing and personalized treatment in related diseases and establish of a sound technical basis for screening for birth defects.c. Cohort study will elucidate a variety of adverse reproductive outcomes and clarify the cause of a series of congenital diseases and potential mechanisms; d. It will help to reduce adverse birth outcomes caused by environmental factors, decrease birth defect rate and launch a series of prevention and intervention measures, laying a solid foundation on reproductive health study which is among international leading frontier. All kinds of information and research results will serve for the vast number of medical, biological research and application transformation. Implementation of the project is expected to generate a large number of patents and software copyrights, including the buildup of the national standards, industry standards and other practices at all levels. It will form a huge value chain, leading environmental science, basic medicine, clinical medicine, preventive medicine in China to reach the international frontier, and create a new direction. At the same time, the cohort study can further help develop a broad range of domestic and international cooperation, preclinical and exploratory research, complete a number of leading international research (papers, patents, policy reports etc.) and thus lead to positive conversion for applications.
4. Team and laboratory support: A group of leading talent could be trained and the cohort study will get financial support from national major projects such as major national research and development programs. A national talent team could be formed by researchers from Yangtze River Scholars, Thousands of Talents, Excellent Youth and other talent project. It will support the State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine which will become a national key construction of repository, and support a plurality of related disciplines in the School of Public Health to maintain or gain advantage.
Project period
July,2016--June,2021
List of some Representative Progress
[1]Wu YT, Li C, Zhu YM, Zou SH, Wu QF, Wang LP, Wu Y, Yin R, Shi CY, Lin J, Jiang ZR, Xu YJ, Su YF, Zhang J, Sheng JZ, Fraser WD, Liu ZW, Huang HF. Outcomes of neonates born following transfers of frozen-thawed cleavage-stage embryos with blastomere loss: a prospective, multicenter, cohort study. BMC Med. 2018 Jun 19;16(1):96. doi: 10.1186/s12916-018-1077-8. PMID: 29914496; PMCID: PMC6006714.
[2]Hu P, Vinturache A, Li H, Tian Y, Yuan L, Cai C, Lu M, Zhao J, Zhang Q, Gao Y, Liu Z, Ding G. Urinary Organophosphate Metabolite Concentrations and Pregnancy Outcomes among Women Conceiving through in Vitro Fertilization in Shanghai, China. Environ Health Perspect. 2020 Sep;128(9):97007. doi: 10.1289/EHP7076. Epub 2020 Sep 30. PMID: 32997523; PMCID: PMC7526721.
[3]Hu Y, Zhang Y, Vinturache A, Wang Y, Shi R, Chen L, Qin K, Tian Y, Gao Y. Effects of environmental pyrethroids exposure on semen quality in reproductive-age men in Shanghai, China. Chemosphere. 2020 Apr;245:125580. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.125580. Epub 2019 Dec 16. PMID: 31855762.
[4]Qi J, Lai Y, Liang C, Yan S, Huang K, Pan W, Feng L, Jiang L, Zhu P, Hao J, Tong S, Tao F. Prenatal thallium exposure and poor growth in early childhood: A prospective birth cohort study. Environ Int. 2019 Feb;123:224-230. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2018.12.005. Epub 2018 Dec 8. PMID: 30537637.
[5]Lu Q, Lin Y, Chen T, Lv H, Diao F, Liu C, Peng M, Ling X, Li H, Wang Y, Wei Y, Du J, Jin G, Xia Y, Ma H, Liu X, Shen H, Hu Z. Alternations of gut microbiota composition in neonates conceived by assisted reproductive technology and its relation to infant growth. Gut Microbes. 2020 Nov 9;12(1):1794466. doi: 10.1080/19490976.2020.1794466. PMID: 32752913; PMCID: PMC7524295.
[6]Geng M, Liu K, Huang K, Zhu Y, Ding P, Zhang J, Wang B, Liu W, Han Y, Gao H, Wang S, Chen G, Wu X, Tao F. Urinary antibiotic exposure across pregnancy from Chinese pregnant women and health risk assessment: Repeated measures analysis. Environ Int. 2020 Dec;145:106164. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2020.106164. Epub 2020 Oct 6. PMID: 33035894.
[7]Tong J, Liang CM, Huang K, Xiang HY, Qi J, Feng LL, Lai YP, Shao SS, Wu XY, Tao FB. Prenatal serum thallium exposure and 36-month-old children's attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms: Ma'anshan birth cohort study. Chemosphere. 2020 Apr;244:125499. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.125499. Epub 2019 Dec 5. PMID: 32050328.
[8]Du J, Li J, Liu X, Liu H, Obel C, Shen H, Hu Z, Yu Y. Association of maternal diabetes during pregnancy with high refractive error in offspring: a nationwide population-based cohort study. Diabetologia. 2021 Aug 17. doi: 10.1007/s00125-021-05526-z. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34401952.
[9]Yuan Y, Mai Q, Ma J, Deng M, Xu Y, Zhuang G, Zhou C. What was the fate of human embryos following long-term cryopreservation (≥12 years) and frozen embryo transfer? Hum Reprod. 2019 Jan 1;34(1):52-55. doi: 10.1093/humrep/dey350. PMID: 30517678.
[10]Qiu Q, Huang J, Li Y, Chen X, Lin H, Li L, Yang D, Wang W, Zhang Q. Does an FSH surge at the time of hCG trigger improve IVF/ICSI outcomes? A randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study. Hum Reprod. 2020 Jun 1;35(6):1411-1420. doi: 10.1093/humrep/deaa087. PMID: 32383771.
[11]He H, Jing S, Lu CF, Tan YQ, Luo KL, Zhang SP, Gong F, Lu GX, Lin G. Neonatal outcomes of live births after blastocyst biopsy in preimplantation genetic testing cycles: a follow-up of 1,721 children. Fertil Steril. 2019 Jul;112(1):82-88. doi: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2019.03.006. Epub 2019 May 2. PMID: 31056308.
[12]Dai C, Hu L, Gong F, Tan Y, Cai S, Zhang S, Dai J, Lu C, Chen J, Chen Y, Lu G, Du J, Lin G. ZP2 pathogenic variants cause in vitro fertilization failure and female infertility. Genet Med. 2019 Feb;21(2):431-440. doi: 10.1038/s41436-018-0064-y. Epub 2018 Jun 12. PMID: 29895852.
[13]Gu F, Li S, Zheng L, Gu J, Li T, Du H, Gao C, Ding C, Quan S, Zhou C, Li P, Xu Y. Perinatal outcomes of singletons following vitrification versus slow-freezing of embryos: a multicenter cohort study using propensity score analysis. Hum Reprod. 2019 Sep 29;34(9):1788-1798. doi: 10.1093/humrep/dez095. PMID: 31407797.
[14]Xiao Z, Yan L, Liang X, Wang H. Progress in deciphering trophoblast cell differentiation during human placentation. Curr Opin Cell Biol. 2020 Dec;67:86-91. doi: 10.1016/j.ceb.2020.08.010. Epub 2020 Sep 18. PMID: 32957014.
[15]Ma Y, Yang Q, Fan M, Zhang L, Gu Y, Jia W, Li Z, Wang F, Li YX, Wang J, Li R, Shao X, Wang YL. Placental endovascular extravillous trophoblasts (enEVTs) educate maternal T-cell differentiation along the maternal-placental circulation. Cell Prolif. 2020 May;53(5):e12802. doi: 10.1111/cpr.12802. Epub 2020 Apr 14. PMID: 32291850; PMCID: PMC7260064.
