The national, longitudinal NASCITA Cohort study: starting population profile

Abstract

Background We set up a national level, population-based, prospective cohort study, the NASCITA Study, to better understand the early health status of Italian children and how it is affected by social and health determinants. Physical, cognitive, and psychological development of children during the first six years of life, and potentially associated factors, will be evaluated.Methods Participating paediatricians enrolled, during their first well-child visit, all infants born April 2019 - July 2020. Multiple health outcomes will be studied, spanning child development and illness, as well as potentially related factors including parental characteristics and caregiving routines. We present the data on the entire enrolled population of 5054 newborns, at the time of their first out-of-hospital visit.ResultsMost mothers (86.6%) were born in Italy. Average age at delivery was 33.1 years. Folic acid supplementation was taken appropriately by 36.1% of mothers. One fourth (25.3%) of mothers was overweight or obese. In all, 31.7% were caesarean deliveries. Concerning the newborns, 6.2% were born prematurely and 7.9% were born with a neonatal disease. The exclusive breastfeeding rate at one month of age was 63.6%.North-South differences were found in all areas, including parental education, behaviours in pregnancy (e.g., folic acid supplementation) and afterwards (e.g., breast feeding), and hospital practices (e.g., caesarean section).When compared with national level data, the distribution of the cohort population, maternal socio-demographic characteristics, and newborn physical characteristics reflect those of the Italian population.ConclusionsThe large geographical differences in the attitudes of parents and healthcare professionals call for interventions to improve adherence to evidence based good practices associated with better neonatal growth and development. Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT03894566