This proposal is to collect new information from families already taking part in the Born in Bradford (BiB) study, which was set up in 2007 to track the lives of 13,500 babies and their families. The aim of Born in Bradford is to find out more about the causes of childhood illness by studying children from all cultures and backgrounds as their lives unfold. Mothers joined the study when they were pregnant and we collected information from them and their partners about their health, their families and their social and economic circumstances. We have collected information on their babies’ health and development at birth and as they grow up.
Now the BiB children are in primary school and we would like to ask them and their families some new questions. We plan to collect information from at least 9,000 BiB children at age 7-10 years and their parents (8,500 mothers and 5,000 fathers/partners).
In the BiB Primary Schools Years study #BiBPsy We will work with schools in Bradford to ask children and teachers to complete questionnaires. Children will use laptop computers to complete assessments and answer questions about their lives, health and wellbeing.
In the BiB Growing up study we will ask parents and children to come to a ‘BiB bus’ or another community location to complete questionnaires and have some measurements. There we will ask families about changes in their social and economic circumstances, and about their health and wellbeing, and we will ask children about their diet and how much exercise they get. We will take blood samples from children and parents, measure their height, weight, body fat and bone density.
Information from both the BiB Primary School Years and BiB Growing up studies will be used understand children’s health and wellbeing, how they have changed over time and the causes of differences in childhood health and wellbeing. In particular, we would like to understand the factors that affect: (1) child social and emotional wellbeing; (2) children’s cognition; (3) healthy growth in children and heart health in children and adults.
All information will be confidential. After all identifying information has been removed, we will share information with other researchers throughout the world, creating an international information source for exploring and understanding how health, development and social wellbeing change throughout children’s lives in a deprived multi-ethnic population.
