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Assessment of diet, physical activity and biological, social and environmental factors in a multi-centre European project on diet- and lifestyle-related disorders in children (IDEFICS)

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Abstract

Obesity is a major public health problem in developed countries. We present a European project, called Identification and Prevention of Dietary and Lifestyle-induced Health Effects in Children and Infants (IDEFICS), that focuses on diet- and lifestyle-related diseases in children. This paper outlines methodological aspects and means of quality control in IDEFICS. IDEFICS will use a multicentre survey design of a population-based cohort of about 17,000 2- to 10-year-old children in nine European countries (Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Spain and Sweden). The project will investigate the impact of dietary factors such as food intake and food preferences, lifestyle factors such as physical activity, psychosocial factors and genetic factors on the development of obesity and other selected diet- and lifestyle-related disorders. An intervention study will be set up in pre-school and primary school settings in eight of the survey centres. Standardised survey instruments will be designed during the first phase of the project and applied in the surveys by all centres. Standard operation procedures (SOPs) will be developed, as well as a plan for training the personnel involved in the surveys. These activities will be accompanied by a quality control strategy that will encompass the evaluation of process and result quality throughout the project. IDEFICS will develop comparable Europe-wide health indicators and instruments for data collection among young children. Establishment of a new European cohort within IDEFICS will provide a unique opportunity to document the development of the obesity epidemic in the current generation of young Europeans and investigate the impact of primary prevention in European children populations.

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Acknowledgements

IDEFICS will be supported by the European Commission, 6th Framework Programme, Food Quality and Safety (contract no. 016181). We gratefully acknowledge the financial and personal support of the University of Bremen and of the German National Contact Point during the development of the IDEFICS proposal.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Biometry and Data Management, Bremen Institute for Prevention Research and Social Medicine, Linzer Strasse 10, 28199, Bremen, Germany

    Karin Bammann, Iris Pigeot & Hermann Pohlabeln

  2. Division of Epidemiological Methods and Etiologic Research, Bremen Institute for Prevention Research and Social Medicine (BIPS), University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

    Jenny Peplies & Wolfgang Ahrens

  3. Unit for Preventive Nutrition, Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden

    Michael Sjöström

  4. Department of Community Medicine and Public Health, Sahlgrenska Academy at Göteborg University, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Lauren Lissner

  5. Department of Public Health, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium

    Stefaan De Henauw

  6. Department of Pharmacological Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Claudio Galli

  7. Laboratory of Environmental and Genetic Epidemiology, Research Laboratories, Centre for High Technology Research and Education in Biomedical Sciences, Catholic University, Campobasso, Italy

    Licia Iacoviello

  8. Nutritional Epidemiology Unit, National Cancer Institute, Milan, Italy

    Vittorio Krogh

  9. Department of Paediatrics, The Queen Silvia Children’s Hospital, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Staffan Marild

  10. Institute of Diet Exercise and Lifestyle, Faculty of Biomedical and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    Yannis Pitsiladis

  11. Department of Intercultural Communication and Management, Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Lucia Reisch

  12. Unit of Epidemiology and Population Genetics, Institute of Food Science and Technology, National Research Council, Avellino, Italy

    Alfonso Siani

Authors
  1. Karin Bammann
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  2. Jenny Peplies
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  3. Michael Sjöström
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  4. Lauren Lissner
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  5. Stefaan De Henauw
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  6. Claudio Galli
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  7. Licia Iacoviello
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  8. Vittorio Krogh
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  9. Staffan Marild
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  10. Iris Pigeot
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  11. Yannis Pitsiladis
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  12. Hermann Pohlabeln
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  13. Lucia Reisch
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  14. Alfonso Siani
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  15. Wolfgang Ahrens
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Consortia

on behalf of the IDEFICS Consortium

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Karin Bammann.

Consortium of the IDEFICS Project

Consortium of the IDEFICS Project

Project Coordinator: Wolfgang Ahrens1

1. Bremen Institute for Prevention Research and Social Medicine, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany (Wolfgang Ahrens, Iris Pigeot, Karin Bammann, Jenny Peplies, Hermann Pohlabeln)

2. Department of Public Health/Department of Movement and Sport Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium (Stefaan de Henauw, Lea Maes, Ilse de Bourdeaudhuij)

3. Research and Education Institute of Child Health, Strovolos, Cyprus (Michalis Tornaritis, Savvas C. Savva, Charis Chadjigeorgiou, Yiannis Kourides)

4. Laboratory of Nutrition, Ageing and Cardiovascular Diseases, University Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France (Michel de Lorgeril)

5. Sensory Laboratory, Technologie-Transfer-Zentrum Bremerhaven, Bremerhaven, Germany (Kirsten Buchecker)

6. Institute of Diet Exercise and Lifestyle, Faculty of Biomedical and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom (Yannis Pitsiladis)

7. Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom (Garrath D. Williams, David Archard)

8. Department of Paediatrics, Medical Faculty, University of Pécs, Pécs , Hungary (Dénes Molnár, Eva Kovács, Eva Erhardt, Eva Lányi)

9. Laboratory of Genetic and Environmental Epidemiology, Research Laboratories, Centre for High Technology Research and Education in Biomedical Sciences, University Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Campobasso, Italy (Licia Iacoviello, Maria Carmela Latella, Augusto Di Castelnuovo, Maria Benedetta Donati, Giovanni de Gaetano)

10. Institute of Food Sciences, Unit of Epidemiology and Population Genetics, National Research Council, Avellino, Italy (Alfonso Siani, Gianvincenzo Barba, Paola Russo; Pasquale Strazzullo from Dept. of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, “Federico II” University of Naples, Naples Italy)

11. Nutritional Epidemiology Unit, National Cancer Institute, Milan, Italy (Vittorio Krogh, Sabina Sieri)

12. Department of Pharmacological Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy (Claudio Galli)

13. University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain (Luis Moreno)

14. Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Nutrition and Biotechnology, University Illes Balears, Palma de Mallorca, Spain (Andreu Palou, Catalina Picó)

15. Unit for Preventive Nutrition, Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden (Michael Sjöström, Eric Poortvliet, Maria Hagströmer, Patrick Bergman)

16. Department of Paediatrics, Queen Silvia Children’s Hospital, Göteborg University, Department of Community Medicine and Public Health, Sahlgrenska Academy at Gö teborg University, Gothenburg, Sweden (Staffan Mårild, Lauren Lissner, Gabriele Eiben)

17. National Institute for Health Development, Tallinn, Estonia (Toomas Veidebaum)

18. Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, Denmark (Lucia Reisch, Suzanne Beckmann)

19. The European Food Information Council, Brussels, Belgium (Josephine Wills, Laura Fernandez, Laura Smillie)

20. Laboratoriumsmedizin Dortmund, Eberhard und Partner, Dortmund, Germany (Arno Fraterman, Arnold Eberhard)

21. Gockel Design, Wuppertal, Germany (Ralf Gockel, Martin Staubach)

22. BioTel Ltd, Clifton, Bristol, United Kingdom (Mark P. Rayson)

23. Pécs TV Communication Ltd, Pécs, Hungary (János Keresnyei)

24 Agorà Med srl, Naples, Italy (Riccardo Siani, Ferdinando Giacco)

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Bammann, K., Peplies, J., Sjöström, M. et al. Assessment of diet, physical activity and biological, social and environmental factors in a multi-centre European project on diet- and lifestyle-related disorders in children (IDEFICS). J Public Health 14, 279–289 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-006-0058-0

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