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The LIFE Child study: a population-based perinatal and pediatric cohort in Germany

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Abstract

The LIFE Child study is a large population-based longitudinal childhood cohort study conducted in the city of Leipzig, Germany. As a part of LIFE, a research project conducted at the Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases, it aims to monitor healthy child development from birth to adulthood and to understand the development of lifestyle diseases such as obesity. The study consists of three interrelated cohorts; the birth cohort, the health cohort, and the obesity cohort. Depending on age and cohort, the comprehensive study program comprises different medical, psychological, and sociodemographic assessments as well as the collection of biological samples. Optimal data acquisition, process management, and data analysis are guaranteed by a professional team of physicians, certified study assistants, quality managers, scientists and statisticians. Due to the high popularity of the study, more than 3000 children have already participated until the end of 2015, and two-thirds of them participate continuously. The large quantity of acquired data allows LIFE Child to gain profound knowledge on the development of children growing up in the twenty-first century. This article reports the number of available and analyzable data and demonstrates the high relevance and potential of the study.

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Funding

This publication is supported by LIFE – Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases, University of Leipzig. LIFE is funded by means of the European Union, by means of the European Social Fund (ESF), by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and by means of the Free State of Saxony within the framework of the excellence initiative. The Integrated Research and Treatment Center Adiposity Diseases is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Grant 01EO1501).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LIFE Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases, University of Leipzig, Philipp-Rosenthal-Strasse 27, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Tanja Poulain, Ronny Baber, Mandy Vogel, Diana Pietzner, Toralf Kirsten, Anne Jurkutat, Andreas Hiemisch, Markus Loeffler, Antje Körner, Matthias Nüchter & Wieland Kiess

  2. Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Chemistry, and Molecular Diagnostics (ILM), University of Leipzig, Liebigstrasse 27, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Ronny Baber, Jürgen Kratzsch & Joachim Thiery

  3. Department of Women and Child Health, Hospital for Children and Adolescents and Center for Pediatric Research (CPL), University of Leipzig, Liebigstrasse 20a, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Andreas Hiemisch, Antje Körner & Wieland Kiess

  4. Integrated Research and Treatment Center Adiposity Diseases, University of Leipzig, Philipp-Rosenthal-Strasse 27, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Anja Hilbert, Antje Körner & Wieland Kiess

  5. Department of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, University of Leipzig, Philipp-Rosenthal-Strasse 55, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Anja Hilbert

  6. Section of Phoniatrics and Audiology, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Leipzig, Liebigstrasse 10-12, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Michael Fuchs

  7. Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, University of Leipzig, Liebigstrasse 12, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Christian Hirsch

  8. Department of Ophthalmology, University of Leipzig, Liebigstrasse 10-14, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Franziska G. Rauscher

  9. Institute for Medical Informatics, Statistics, and Epidemiology, University of Leipzig, Härtelstrasse 16-18, 04107, Leipzig, Germany

    Markus Loeffler

Authors
  1. Tanja Poulain
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  2. Ronny Baber
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  3. Mandy Vogel
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  4. Diana Pietzner
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  8. Anja Hilbert
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  10. Joachim Thiery
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  11. Michael Fuchs
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  17. Wieland Kiess
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the LIFE Child study team

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Correspondence to Tanja Poulain.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants are in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent is obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Poulain, T., Baber, R., Vogel, M. et al. The LIFE Child study: a population-based perinatal and pediatric cohort in Germany. Eur J Epidemiol 32, 145–158 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-016-0216-9

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