Management of family relationship information for a three-generation cohort study

A system for inputting and storing family information, named “BirThree Enrollment,” was developed to promote a birth and three-generation cohort study (BirThree Cohort Study), and this system was operated successfully. In the study, it was necessary to satisfy many operational demands. Input information is overwritten and changed continuously. Complex kinship information must be quickly and accurately input and corrected, and information on those families not yet recruited must be retrieved. For these purposes, many devices are needed, from an input interface to the internal data structure. In the field of genetic statistics, a simple standard expressive form is used for describing family structure. This form has sufficient information for genetics; however, we developed this form further for our purposes in conducting the BirThree Cohort Study. To provide information about family roles as required in the BirThree Cohort Study, we expanded the data structure, and constructed the system that is able to be used for the daily operation. In our system, family pedigree information is stored along with initial clinical information, and enabled the input of all self-reported information to the data base. Operators are able to input this family information before the day is out. As a result, when recruitment is completed, family information will be completed concurrently. Therefore, it is possible to immediately know a certain person’s family structure. By using our system, data correction was improved dramatically, and the system was operated successfully. This study is the first report of the method for storing three generations of family data.