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Born in Bradford's Better Start: an experimental birth cohort study to evaluate the impact of early life

Josie Dickerson1, Philippa K Bird2, Rosemary R C McEachan2

  • 1Born in Bradford, Bradford Institute for Health Research, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Bradford, BD9 6RJ, UK. Josie.dickerson@bthft.nhs.uk.

BMC Public Health
|August 5, 2016
PubMed

Insights

This study introduces the Born in Bradford's Better Start (BiBBS) cohort, an innovative approach to evaluate multiple early life interventions. It aims to provide crucial evidence on effective strategies for improving child health and development outcomes.

Area of Science:

  • Child Health Research
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Public Health Interventions

Background:

  • Early interventions are crucial for improving child life chances and reducing health inequalities.
  • High-quality research on the effectiveness of early childhood interventions is limited.
  • Evaluating multiple interventions individually is resource-intensive and time-consuming.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To describe the protocol for the Born in Bradford's Better Start (BiBBS) experimental birth cohort study.
  • To simultaneously evaluate the impact of multiple early life interventions using efficient study designs.
  • To generate evidence on effective approaches to improve child health and well-being.

Main Methods:

  • Recruitment of 5000 babies and their families over 5 years (2016-2020).
  • Collection of comprehensive demographic, socioeconomic, health, lifestyle, and biological data.
  • Utilizing Trials within Cohorts (TwiCs) and quasi-experimental designs to assess intervention effectiveness.
  • Linking participant data with routine health and local authority records.

Main Results:

  • The study focuses on measuring the impact of single and cumulative interventions.
  • It aims to assess effects on social-emotional development, communication, language, nutrition, and obesity.
  • The novel design allows for evaluation of interventions in deprived, ethnically diverse urban settings.

Conclusions:

  • BiBBS is the first experimental birth cohort study of its kind globally.
  • The study will provide essential evidence to inform policymakers and practitioners on effective early life interventions.
  • Findings will contribute to improving health and well-being for future generations.
Abstract

Keywords:
Birth cohortChild developmentChild healthCommunicationEarly years interventionsEmotionalInequalitiesLanguageNutritionObesityQuasi-experimentalSocialTrials within cohort

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