State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine (Suzhou Centre), The Affiliated Suzhou Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Suzhou Municipal Hospital, Gusu School, Nanjing Medical University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China.
Biol Reprod. 2022 Jul 25;107(1):358-367. doi: 10.1093/biolre/ioac117.
Well-designed birth cohorts are able to estimate prevalence/distribution of various health events/outcomes, and to link early-life origins with adult health and function. The past two decades have seen a surge in the establishment of new birth cohorts and their accompanying research. We discussed distinct designs of current birth cohort studies, reviewed their achievements, and highlighted insights obtained from birth cohort studies, as well as challenges we are facing. Birth cohort studies are providing increasing opportunities to identify determining factors for short- and long-term health, yielding substantial evidence to uncover biological mechanisms of diseases and phenotypes, and providing further insights for public health. Dynamic monitoring, accurate measurements, long-term follow-ups, and collaborative efforts are warranted in new birth cohorts to elucidate the nature of life course relationships in contemporary generation.
设计良好的出生队列能够估计各种健康事件/结局的流行/分布，并将生命早期起源与成人健康和功能联系起来。过去二十年中，新的出生队列及其伴随的研究如雨后春笋般涌现。我们讨论了当前出生队列研究的不同设计，回顾了它们的成就，并强调了从出生队列研究中获得的见解以及我们面临的挑战。出生队列研究为确定短期和长期健康的决定因素提供了越来越多的机会，为揭示疾病和表型的生物学机制提供了大量证据，并为公共卫生提供了进一步的见解。在新的出生队列中需要进行动态监测、准确测量、长期随访和协作努力，以阐明当代人群生命历程关系的本质。
