The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), also known as Children of the 90s and formerly the Avon Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood, is a
cohort study of children born in the former county of
Avon, England during 1991 and 1992.
[http://www.bristol.ac.uk/alspac/ ALSPAC website, accessed 15 October 2014] It is used by researchers in health, education and other social science disciplines.
The study is hosted at the
University of Bristol
, mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'')
, established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter
, type ...
and was initially led by
Jean Golding
Jean Golding , FMedSci, (born Jean Bond 22 September 1939, also known as Jean Fedrick between 1962 and 1977) is a British epidemiologist, and founder of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), also known as "Children of th ...
, then
George Davey Smith
George Davey Smith (born 9 May 1959) is a British epidemiologist. He has been professor of clinical epidemiology at the University of Bristol since 1994, honorary professor of public health at the University of Glasgow since 1996, and visiting ...
. Currently the
Principal Investigator
In many countries, the term principal investigator (PI) refers to the holder of an independent grant and the lead researcher for the grant project, usually in the sciences, such as a laboratory study or a clinical trial. The phrase is also often us ...
for the study is Prof
Nic Timpson
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Banking and insurance companies
* National Insurance Corporation, Uganda
* NIC Bank, a commercial bank in Kenya
Politics, government and economics
* National Ice Center, an agency that provides worldwide navigational ice a ...
.
The initial recruits were 15,247 pregnant women with estimated dates of delivery between April 1991 and December 1992. Since then the fathers, siblings and children of the participants have also begun to be studied and the study has launched Children of the Children of the 90s as a new generation is born.
It is one of a family of similar studies that were set up at around the same time in six countries across Europe, known as the European Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood (ELSPAC). ELSPAC included studies in
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
and the
Isle of Man
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, anthem = "O Land of Our Birth"
, image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg
, image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg
, mapsize =
, map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe
, map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green)
in Europe ...
, in addition to ALSPAC.
Liver disease
In the study, 2.5% of 4,000 people born in 1991 and 1992 were found by ultrasound scanning at the age of 18 to have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; five years later
transient elastography
Elastography is any of a class of medical imaging modalities that map the elastic properties and stiffness of soft tissue.Sarvazyan A, Hall TJ, Urban MW, Fatemi M, Aglyamov SR, Garra BSOverview of elastography–an emerging branch of medical im ...
(fibroscan) found over 20% to have the fatty deposits on the liver of
steatosis, indicating non-alcoholic
fatty liver disease; half of those were classified as severe. The scans also found that 2.4% had the liver scarring of
fibrosis, which can lead to
cirrhosis
Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, and end-stage liver disease, is the impaired liver function caused by the formation of scar tissue known as fibrosis due to damage caused by liver disease. Damage causes tissue repai ...
.
References
Further reading
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*
External links
*http://www.bristol.ac.uk/alspac/ Website of the study
Children of the 90s study history
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University of Bristol
Cohort studies
Genetics or genomics research institutions