Data Entry Maintenance

Metadata Commons Identifier

HMC000097

Project Title

Mining The Infant Gut Microbiota To Predict And Prevent Asthma: Data From The CHILD Cohort Study

Project Description

Asthma is the most common chronic, non-communicable disease in children, affecting ~13% of this population. Asthma often persists for a lifetime, so more than 3 million Canadians, of all ages, are affected at any given time. Currently, there is no cure for asthma nor there is an accurate way to predict which children will develop life-long asthma, but compelling evidence from by our team and others, has linked development of asthma to imbalances of the gut microbiome and subsequent microbe-dependent metabolic and epigenetic changes. This project builds upon the foundation of the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) Study — Canada’s largest longitudinal birth cohort, a platform for defining the risk factors for asthma and allergy in children. The CHILD Cohort Study is a population-based prospective longitudinal birth cohort study, recruited 3621 women with singleton pregnancies from Vancouver, Edmonton, Manitoba (Winnipeg and Morden/Winkler), and Toronto between 2008 and 2012, from which 3454 delivered healthy, full-term infants, and were eligible to commence the study. A total of 167 families were excluded: 84 children were deemed ineligible at birth and withdrawn from the study; 46 families provided no data despite eligibility of their infant, and they withdrew or were withdrawn before they began the study; 37 mothers provided their prenatal data but withdrew from the study before the child was born. Among the 3621 recruited families, 216 in a Vanguard cohort and 3405 in the General cohort. For Vanguard cohort, CHILD study initially recruited approximately 50 families in each centre, and evaluated ease of recruitment, representativeness, understanding of questionnaires, sample collection and acceptance and comfort with procedures. Following minor revisions to protocols and questionnaires, recruitment of the General cohort began six months later. These Vanguard families remain integral to the CHILD cohort as they continue to inform the age 1-, 3- and 5- year visit methodology. Of 3405 recruited to the General cohort, 3263 children were eligible at birth and included in this project. Our collaborative Team members (Azad, Mandhane, Simons, Subbarao, Turvey, Moraes) are co-PIs and site leaders of the CHILD study. Extensive longitudinal data on health, genetics, epigenetics and environmental exposures have been collected during pregnancy, at birth, and up to age 13. This study continues and we are planning for the 16-year visit. Since data at 8-year and 13-year visit are not currently available, this project will focus on the 5-year outcomes. This project investigates how environmental factors shape the early-life gut microbiome, and their associations with metabolome, epigenome, and immune biomarkers, and how these changes may influence the development of childhood asthma. Early exposures, such as mode of delivery, antibiotic use, breastfeeding, and family composition, are believed to play a significant role in shaping the gut microbiome during infancy. These microbial changes may have downstream effects on immune system development and contribute to asthma risk. Exploring the interactions between environmental factors and the gut microbiome, along with their impact on metabolic, immune, and epigenetic pathways, is essential for understanding the origins of asthma. In addition, this project also aims to develop a predictive tool that can identify infants at higher risk of developing asthma by integrating clinical, environmental, and multi-omics data. By identifying how microbiome interact with environmental factors, epigenetic and immune system and developing a model to predict asthma risk, this project has the potential to enable earlier interventions and improve long-term health outcomes for children. The informed consent obtained from the CHILD participants, in addition to the CHILD Inter-Institutional Agreement (IIA) which has been executed between the five Canadian institutions responsible for the study, govern the sharing of CHILD data. Data described in project are available by registration to the CHILD database (<a href="https://childstudy.ca/childdb/">https://childstudy.ca/childdb/</a>) and the submission of a formal request. All reasonable requests will be accommodated. More information about data access for the CHILD Cohort Study can be found at <a href="https://childstudy.ca/for-researchers/data-access/">https://childstudy.ca/for-researchers/data-access/</a>. Researchers interested in collaborating on a project and accessing CHILD Cohort Study data should contact <a href="mailto:child@mcmaster.ca">child@mcmaster.ca</a>.

Project Funder(s)

Genome British Columbia, Genome Canada, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), AllerGen Networks of Centres of Excellence

Project Institution(s)

BC Children's Hospital Research Institute

Project Investigator(s)

Stuart Turvey, Padmaja Subbarao, Piushkumar Mandhane, Elinor Simons, Meghan Azad, Theo Moraes

Data Access Request URL*

https://childstudy.ca/childdb/

Keywords

Publication Link

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25405552/

Study Completed

Cohort Name

CHILD Study

Cohort Size

3621

Disease/Condition Studied

childhood-onset asthma

Enrollment Time Window

2008-2012

Biobanking Consent Available

Medical History Available

Ethnicity Availability

Time Course

Patient Phenotypes

Population-based prospective longitudinal birth cohort

Patient Outcomes

Asthma at 5 years of age

Clinical Data Types Available

Self-reported demographics, factors and exposomes to infants during pregnancy, birth and postnatal, home and neighborhood environment, and parental diet and health history. Child health outcomes (allergy, asthma, wheeze, mental health, etc.)

Time Course Data Points

Recruitment (18 weeks gestation), at 36 weeks gestation (psychosocial only), and at 3, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 months, 3, 4, and 5 years

Enrollment City

Groups

Project

Cohort

Enrollment City

Groups

Samples and Omics