Advancing high quality longitudinal data collection: Implications for the HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD)...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Public Health

Background:

• The HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study is a multi-site, prospective, longitudinal cohort study.
• It aims to understand human brain, cognitive, behavioral, social, and emotional development from prenatal stages through early childhood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To reflect the sociodemographic diversity of pregnant individuals in the U.S.
• To oversample individuals using substances during pregnancy and enroll similar non-users for generalizable inferences.
• To investigate the impact of prenatal substance use on child development trajectories.

Main Methods:

• Utilizes an adaptive design and enrollment monitoring indices to assess and enhance external and internal validity.
• Employs a jittered design for random assignment to visit windows, optimizing longitudinal trajectory estimation.
• Describes recruitment, enrollment, data collection processes (in-person and remote), and analytic strategies for heterogeneity and bias.

Main Results:

• The study details its innovative recruitment and enrollment strategies.
• It outlines data collection procedures designed to optimize longitudinal trajectory estimation.
• Potential analytic strategies for managing heterogeneity and bias are discussed.

Conclusions:

• The HBCD Study employs innovative methods to address challenges in longitudinal research, particularly concerning prenatal substance use.
• Rigorous monitoring and advanced analytic strategies are crucial for ensuring the validity of findings.
• The study is designed to provide generalizable insights into child development influenced by prenatal exposures.