Witonsky Jonathan I, Elhawary Jennifer R, Eng Celeste, Oh Sam S, Salazar Sandra, Contreras Maria G, Medina Vivian, Secor Elizabeth A, Zhang Priscilla, Everman Jamie L, Fairbanks-Mahnke Ana, Pruesse Elmar, Sajuthi Satria P, Chang Chih-Hao, Guerrero Tsunami Rosado, Fuentes Keyshla Canales, Lopez Natalie, Montañez-López Chris Angely, Morales Emily Vazquez, Morales Nicole Vazquez, Otero Richeliz Alfonso, Rivera Raymarie Colon, Rodriguez Leysha, Vazquez Gabriela, Hu Donglei, Huntsman Scott, Jackson Nathan D, Li Yingchun, Morin Andrew, Nieves Natalie A, Rios Cydney, Serrano Gonzalo, Williams Blake J M, Ziv Elad, Moore Camille M, Sheppard Dean, Burchard Esteban González, Seibold Max A, Rodríguez-Santana Jose R
Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, Calif.
Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, Calif.
J Allergy Clin Immunol Glob. 2025 Apr 11;4(3):100470. doi: 10.1016/j.jacig.2025.100470. eCollection 2025 Aug.
Although early-life respiratory illnesses (RIs) are linked to childhood asthma, it is unclear whether children are predisposed to both conditions or if RIs induce alterations that lead to asthma. Puerto Rican children, who bear a disproportionate burden of early-life RIs and asthma, are an important population for studying this relationship.
We sought to describe the design and baseline characteristics of the Puerto Rican Infant Metagenomic and Epidemiologic Study of Respiratory Outcomes (PRIMERO) birth cohort.
PRIMERO is designed to examine the role of respiratory viruses on the development of RIs and asthma. Pregnant women were recruited at Hospital Interamericano de Medicina Avanzada-San Pablo in Caguas, Puerto Rico. Questionnaires at birth and annual follow-ups gather clinical, social, and environmental data. Collected samples include postterm maternal blood; infant cord blood; the child's blood at year 2; and the child's nasal airway epithelium at birth, during RIs over the first 2 years, and annually until age 5.
We enrolled 2,100 mother-child dyads into the PRIMERO study between February 2020 and June 2023, representing 59% of births at Hospital Interamericano de Medicina Avanzada. As of April 29, 2024, 2,069 participants remain active, with high rates of biospecimen collection and annual visit participation. Illness surveillance detected 6,076 RIs, with 38.4% involving the lower respiratory tract.
The PRIMERO birth cohort study, with its comprehensive data on viral exposures, respiratory outcomes, and airway molecular phenotypes in a high-risk population of Puerto Rican children, is uniquely positioned to address long-standing questions about the early-life determinants and mechanisms underlying virus-related asthma development.
尽管儿童早期呼吸道疾病（RIs）与儿童哮喘有关，但尚不清楚儿童是否易患这两种疾病，或者呼吸道疾病是否会引发导致哮喘的改变。波多黎各儿童在儿童早期呼吸道疾病和哮喘方面负担过重，是研究这种关系的重要人群。
我们试图描述波多黎各婴儿呼吸道结局宏基因组学和流行病学研究（PRIMERO）出生队列的设计和基线特征。
PRIMERO旨在研究呼吸道病毒在呼吸道疾病和哮喘发展中的作用。在波多黎各卡瓜斯的圣巴勃罗美洲高级医学医院招募孕妇。出生时和每年随访时的问卷收集临床、社会和环境数据。收集的样本包括过期产母亲的血液、婴儿脐带血、儿童2岁时的血液，以及儿童出生时、头两年呼吸道疾病发作期间和5岁前每年的鼻气道上皮细胞。
2020年2月至2023年6月期间，我们将2100对母婴纳入PRIMERO研究，占美洲高级医学医院出生人数的59%。截至2024年4月29日，2069名参与者仍在积极参与，生物样本采集率和年度随访参与率很高。疾病监测发现6076例呼吸道疾病，其中38.4%涉及下呼吸道。
PRIMERO出生队列研究在波多黎各儿童这一高危人群中提供了关于病毒暴露、呼吸道结局和气道分子表型的全面数据，在解决关于儿童早期决定因素以及病毒相关哮喘发展潜在机制的长期问题方面具有独特优势。
