MRC Centre for Reproductive Health, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
BMJ Open. 2020 Mar 4;10(3):e035854. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-035854.
Preterm birth is closely associated with altered brain development and is a leading cause of neurodevelopmental, cognitive and behavioural impairments across the life course. We aimed to investigate neuroanatomic variation and adverse outcomes associated with preterm birth by studying a cohort of preterm infants and controls born at term using brain MRI linked to biosamples and clinical, environmental and neuropsychological data.
Theirworld Edinburgh Birth Cohort is a prospective longitudinal cohort study at the University of Edinburgh. We plan to recruit 300 infants born at <33 weeks of gestational age (GA) and 100 healthy control infants born after 37 weeks of GA. Multiple domains are assessed: maternal and infant clinical and demographic information; placental histology; immunoregulatory and trophic proteins in umbilical cord and neonatal blood; brain macrostructure and microstructure from structural and diffusion MRI (dMRI); DNA methylation; hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity; social cognition, attention and processing speed from eye tracking during infancy and childhood; neurodevelopment; gut and respiratory microbiota; susceptibility to viral infections; and participant experience. Main analyses include creation of novel methods for extracting information from neonatal structural and dMRI, regression analyses of predictors of brain maldevelopment and neurocognitive outcome associated with preterm birth, and determination of the quantitative predictive performance of MRI and other early life factors for childhood outcome.
Ethical approval has been obtained from the National Research Ethics Service (NRES), South East Scotland Research Ethics Committee (NRES numbers 11/55/0061 and 13/SS/0143 (phase I) and 16/SS/0154 (phase II)), and NHS Lothian Research and Development (2016/0255). Results are disseminated through open access journals, scientific meetings, social media, newsletters anda study website (www.tebc.ed.ac.uk), and we engage with the University of Edinburgh public relations and media office to ensure maximum publicity and benefit.
早产与大脑发育异常密切相关，是导致整个生命过程中神经发育、认知和行为障碍的主要原因。我们旨在通过研究脑 MRI 与生物样本以及临床、环境和神经心理学数据相关联的早产儿和足月产对照队列，调查与早产相关的神经解剖学变异和不良结局。
他们的世界爱丁堡出生队列是爱丁堡大学的一项前瞻性纵向队列研究。我们计划招募 300 名出生时胎龄<33 周的婴儿和 100 名出生时胎龄>37 周的健康对照婴儿。评估多个领域：母婴临床和人口统计学信息；胎盘组织学；脐带和新生儿血液中的免疫调节和营养蛋白；结构和扩散 MRI（dMRI）的大脑宏观和微观结构；DNA 甲基化；下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴活动；婴儿期和儿童期眼跟踪的社会认知、注意力和处理速度；神经发育；肠道和呼吸道微生物群；易感染病毒；以及参与者体验。主要分析包括创建从新生儿结构和 dMRI 中提取信息的新方法，回归分析与早产相关的脑发育不良和神经认知结局的预测因子，以及确定 MRI 和其他早期生命因素对儿童结局的定量预测性能。
国家研究伦理服务（NRES）、东南苏格兰研究伦理委员会（NRES 编号 11/55/0061 和 13/SS/0143（第 I 阶段）和 16/SS/0154（第 II 阶段））以及 NHS 洛锡安研究和发展（2016/0255）已获得伦理批准。结果通过开放获取期刊、科学会议、社交媒体、通讯和研究网站（www.tebc.ed.ac.uk）传播，并与爱丁堡大学公共关系和媒体办公室合作，以确保最大程度的宣传和受益。
