The Porto Alegre Early Life Nutrition and Health Study

Abstract

Early childhood caries is a persistent worldwide problem. The etiologic contribution of feeding practices has been less frequently investigated in prospective studies of young children. The Porto Alegre Early Life Nutrition and Health Study has followed a birth cohort of 715 mother-child pairs, recruited from municipal health centers, originally involved in a cluster-randomized controlled trial of healthcare worker training. The birth cohort links prospectively collected socio-demographic, infant feeding, and general and oral health information. To date, oral health data, including caries status and oral health related quality of life, have been collected for 458 children at age 2-3 years. Studies are underway to investigate possible determinants and consequences of oral health among these children.

Relationship between overweight/obesity in the first year of age and traumatic dental injuries in early childhood: Findings from a birth cohort study

“…The considerable proportion of dropouts during the follow up may have influenced the results in an unknown manner. However, the possibility of selection bias is very low, as no differences were found in the baseline characteristics between the original cohort and the cohort analyzed, as reported above . The possibility of measurement bias is also very small due to exhaustive training with an experienced nutritionist conducted with children of different ages.…”

“…This prospective cohort study was nested in a cluster randomized clinical trial conducted in Porto Alegre, which is a city with 1.4 million inhabitants in southern Brazil. In the larger study, pregnant women were recruited from 20 primary health units between May 2008 and February 2009 with the aim of evaluating the impact of healthcare worker training in maternal nutritional counseling on child health outcomes . To be eligible for the study, the health units needed to have more than 100 annual appointments with children less than 1 year of age and not participate in any other intervention study.…”

“…However, the possibility of selection bias is very low, as no differences were found in the baseline characteristics between the original cohort and the cohort analyzed, as reported above. 18 The possibility of measurement bias is also very small due to exhaustive training with an experienced nutritionist conducted with children of different ages. Despite the good reproducibility between the examiners, non-differential classification error may have occurred with the outcome, especially due to the difficulty in separating enamel fractures from physiological wear or the results of tooth grinding.…”

Oral Health Birth Cohort Studies: Achievements, Challenges, and Potential

“…A few oral health birth cohort studies (OHBCSs) began 20 to 45 y ago (Warren et al 2006; Schooling et al 2012; Horta et al 2015; Poulton et al 2015). With newer studies (Feldens et al 2007; Chaffee et al 2014; Do et al 2014; Birungi et al 2015; Seow et al 2016; Wagner and Heinrich-Weltzien 2017; Fontana et al 2019), they have been especially useful in understanding the multiple causes and prevention of oral diseases, providing information on the etiology and natural history of several oral conditions. They have also shown how, over time, unfavorable socioeconomic trajectories, poor oral health–related behaviors, and inadequate patterns of dental visiting have detrimental impacts on oral health (Poulton et al 2002; Feldens et al 2007; Thomson et al 2010; Peres et al 2011).…”

“…Four birth cohort studies with interventions were included. In Brazil, the Porto Alegre Early Life Nutrition and Health Study is nested within a cluster-randomized controlled trial with 715 pregnant women who visited any of 20 Porto Alegre municipal health centers from June to December 2008 (Chaffee et al 2014). A prospective cohort study in São Leopoldo (southern Brazil) is part of a randomized trial ( n = 500) of infants at birth recruited from October 2001 to June 2002 (Feldens et al 2007).…”