Boston Birth Cohort Study

Early Life Origins of Pediatric and Adult Diseases: Boston Birth Cohort Study

Early life exposures may lead to adverse effects on health in later life. The Boston birth Cohort study is designed to study a broad array of early life factors and their effects on maternal and child health outcomes.

Any woman admitted to the Labor and Delivery floor at the Boston Medical Center (BMC) who delivers a singleton live infant and meets our case (gestational age <37 weeks or birthweight <2,500 grams) or control (full term birth with birthweight >2,500 grams) criteria will be eligible.

Postnatal follow-up of enrolled mother-child pair is conducted from birth to age 21 years.

The Boston Birth Cohort has high-quality biospecimen collection, and comprehensive epidemiological, clinical, and environmental exposure data via standardized questionnaire interview, measurements, and review of the electronic medical records.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Mothers who deliver singleton live births at Boston Medical Center are eligible for the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

• pregnancies that are a result of in vitro fertilization or that involve multiple gestations, fetal chromosomal abnormalities or major birth defects.