학술논문
Design and Progress of Child Health Assessments at Community Support Centers in the Birth and Three-Generation Cohort Study of the Tohoku Medical Megabank Project
Document Type
Journal Article
Author
Akihito Otsuki; Akira Uruno; Aoi Noda; Atsushi Hozawa; Chizuru Yamanaka; Eiichi N. Kodama; Fuji Nagami; Fumihiko Ueno; Hiroaki Hashizume; Junichi Sugawara; Junko Kawashima; Keiko Murakami; Kichiya Suzuki; Maki Goto; Makiko Taira; Mami Ishikuro; Mana Kogure; Masahiro Kikuya; Masayuki Yamamoto; Mika Kobayashi; Mika Sakurai-Yageta; Naho Tsuchiya; Naoki Nakaya; Naoko Minegishi; Nobuo Fuse; Ritsuko Shimizu; Shigeo Kure; Shinichi Kuriyama; Soichi Ogishima; Tadao Kobayashi; Taku Obara; Tomohiro Nakamura; Tomoko Kobayashi; Tomomi Onuma; Toru Tamahara; Yohei Hamanaka
Source
The Tohoku Journal of Experimental Medicine. 2023, 259(2):93
Subject
Language
English
ISSN
0040-8727
1349-3329
1349-3329
Abstract
The Tohoku Medical Megabank Project (TMM) has been conducting a birth and three-generation cohort study (the BirThree Cohort Study). We recruited 73,529 pregnant women and their family members for this cohort study, which included 23,143 newborns and 9,459 of their siblings. We designed and are in the process of conducting three-step health assessments for each newborn at approximately ages of 5, 10 and 16. These health assessments are administered at seven community support centers. Trained genome medical research coordinators conduct physical examinations of and collect biological specimens from each participant. The Sendai Children’s Health Square has been established as the headquarters for these child health assessments and is utilized to accumulate knowledge that can facilitate the proper practice of child health assessments. We designed all the relevant health assessments facilities to allow parents and their children to participate in the health assessments concomitantly. Our centers serve as places where child participants and their parents can feel at ease as a result of the implementation of safety measures and child hospitality measures. The TMM BirThree Cohort Study is in the process of conducting strategically detailed health assessments and genome analysis, which can facilitate studies concerning the gene-environment interactions relevant to noncommunicable diseases. Through these operations, our study allows for a significant depth of data to be collected in terms of the number of biospecimens under study and the comprehensiveness of both basic and clinical data alongside relevant family information.