Nutrition in Pregnancy and Growth in Southwest China (NPGSC) cohort: Design, implementation, and characteristics

Abstract

Background: Pregnancy and birth cohorts addressing maternal nutrition and its impact on health outcomes have been rare in China, especially in Southwest China. Objectives: To describe the design, implementation, baseline characteristics, and initial results of the Nutrition in Pregnancy and Growth in Southwest China (NPGSC) cohort. Population: Pregnant women with their children in Southwest China. Design: NPGSC participants have been prospectively recruited since 2014. Pregnant women were invited to participate in the study at their first routine ultrasound examination in gestational weeks 9-11. Data were assessed three times during pregnancy (9-11, 20-22, and 33-35 gestation weeks), and eight times in infants and toddlers. Methods: Pre-pregnancy body weight and height were self-reported; gestational weight gain was measured at regular intervals. Both food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) and 24-hour dietary recalls were used to collect dietary intakes during pregnancy, and FFQ for diet before pregnancy. Information on pregnancy outcomes was extracted from the medical birth registry. Anthropometry of children in the first 3 years of life was measured by trained investigators. Other child outcomes, including feeding practices (self-reported by mothers) and cognitive development (assessed by the Chinese version of Ages and Stages Questionnaire), were recorded. Preliminary results: Between 2014 and 2018, 12 989 pregnant women were enrolled, and 2296 children completed the 3 years follow-up. Among them, 115 pregnancies ended in stillbirth. Mean maternal pre-pregnancy BMI was 21.1 kg/m 2 and mean gestational weight gain was 13.5 kg 18.6% of mothers developed gestational diabetes and 1.5% of mothers were diagnosed with preeclampsia. Mean birthweight and birth length of children were, respectively, 3329 g and 49.4 cm. Conclusion: We built a prospective cohort in Southwest China, which can provide valuable data to investigate the relevance of nutrition for the health of mothers and children. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

Relevance of dietary glycemic index, glycemic load and fiber intake before and during pregnancy for the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus and maternal glucose homeostasis

“…The Nutrition in Pregnancy and Growth in South China (NPGSC) study is a prospective cohort study initiated in January 2014 to investigate the relevance of maternal nutrition before and during pregnancy for health outcomes among mothers and offspring [26]. Briefly, using a sampling design stratified by urban and rural locations, a representative sample of pregnant women was drawn from public hospitals with obstetric services in South China (Sichuan Province, Yunnan Province and Guizhou Province).…”

Cohort profile: the Taicang and Wuqiang mother–child cohort study (TAWS) in China

“…To date, a few birth cohorts in China have examined the associations between several environmental pollutants, nutrients (eg, folic acid and vitamin D), nutrition in pregnancy, maternal biomarkers and birth defects or children’s health 22–25. Although biospecimens were collected in some of these established cohorts, only routine subclinical indicators related to nutrition were assessed and examined.…”

Birth cohort studies in China: New insights and new directions

“…Electronic medical records and networked information system are being built rapidly in many hospitals and community health centres. Some cohorts took advantage of the infrastructure, databases and personnel of the MCH care system and established prospective cohorts with supplemental survey questionnaires 6 . Such cohorts often extract data on medical history, various clinical measurements and diagnosis, and laboratory test results from the hospital or health administration system.…”

“…The Nutrition in Pregnancy and Growth in Southwest China, whose profile is published in this issue of Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology , recruited 12 989 pregnant women in 51 hospitals across three provinces between 2014 and 2018 6 . These regions have a high proportion of ethnic minority groups and, on average, are economically less developed.…”