Cohort profile: the Amsterdam Born Children and their Development (ABCD) study.

In 2000, a study among pregnant women in Amsterdam revealed large ethnic disparities in birth outcomes that were consistent with previous findings in both The Netherlands and other Western countries. So far, conventional risk factors such as low maternal socioeconomic status (SES), smoking or body mass index (BMI) could not explain these disparities. These results, in conjunction with increasing evidence of the longterm implications of adverse pregnancy outcomes (fetal origins of disease hypothesis), formed the basis of the Amsterdam Born Children and their Development (ABCD) study, which was established in 2003. This large prospective population-based cohort study examines the association between maternal lifestyle, medical, psychosocial and environmental conditions during pregnancy and children’s health at birth as well as in later life. Specific attention is paid to ethnic disparities. Consequently, the study has detailed measurements of ethnic background, including country of birth of the pregnant woman herself, country of birth of her parents and ethnic identity. The study is a collaboration between the Public Health Service of Amsterdam and the two university medical centres in Amsterdam [Academic Medical Center (AMC) and VU University Medical Center (VUmc)], and has been implemented in cooperation with hospitals and midwives, Youth Health Care (YHC) centres, primary schools and the University of Tilburg.

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