The Persian Birth Cohort

Principle investigator: Roya Kelishadi

Co-investigators: Mohammad Javad Zare Sakhvidi, Navid Danaei, Payam Dadvand, Amir Houshang Mehrparvar, Seyede Shahrbanoo Daniali, Masoomeh Goodarzi-Khoigani, Motahar Heidari-Beni, Shamsollah Nouripour, Habib Nikukar, Elham Saffarieh, Mahmood Noorishadkam, Mohammad Mehdi Amin, Majid Mirmohammadkhani, Mohammad Hassan Lotfi, Ahmad Vaez, Seyyed Jalil Mirmohammadi, Elaheh Zarean, Mahdieh Mojibian, Mahin Hashemipour, Omid Yaghini, Mohammad Sadegh Rezai, Ali Esmaeili, Alireza Fahimzad, Hamid Hakimi, Mohammad Reza Navaeifar, Hamid Ostad Ebrahimi, Hossein Poustchi, Reza Malekzadeh

The Birth Cohort of Prospective Epidemiological Research Studies in Iran (PERSIAN Birth Cohort) as part of the national study “PERSIAN Cohort”, is a birth cohort running in 5 different provinces of Iran (cities of Isfahan, Yazd,  Semnan, Sari and Rafsanjan). The main goal of the study is to investigate the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) among the Iranian population considering local contextual and cultural aspects. As the PERSIAN birth cohort is one of the leading researches on DOHaD in Middle East region and North Africa, its findings would provide valuable evidence-based information and helps policymakers in schematizing more efficient interventions for health promotion in these regions. The PERSIAN Birth Cohort aims to investigate the impact of socioeconomic status, lifestyle, diet, and occupational and environmental exposures before and during pregnancy and also during early life, on some of the major health concerns. Pregnancy related complications and outcomes, mental and physical health and wellbeing of the mother and the child, child development, and early- and late-onset  non communicable diseases, are among the main targets of this study. By the end of the study, totally 15000 mother-child pairs (almost 3000 pregnant women from each province) are expected to be included in PERSIAN Birth Cohort, and the offspring would be followed up for at least 10 years of age.

Information would be gathered using comprehensive standard questionnaires, and multiple biological samples would be collected. In order to have the best possible representative  sample, pregnant women are being recruited  from both  public and private healthcare centers and hospitals. Considering different cultures, diets, environments, climates and ethnicity of the participants from these 5 provinces, invaluable information of the factors determining health status and common diseases of Iranians would be acquired. The pregnant women with Iranian nationality, residing in the catchment area of the study center, planning to give birth in the hospitals located in the city where the cohort is undergoing, natural pregnancy or with history of using assisted reproductive techniques for treating infertility, and not having communication problems, are the primary target population of the PERSIAN Birth Cohort. Pregnancies ending in natural vaginal delivery or Caesarean section would both be included in this study and considering the high popularity of Caesarean section among Iranian women, it would provide important information on health effects of Caesarian section for researchers worldwide which makes the study more unique.