Cohort | Country | Period of recruitment | Sample size n# | Inclusion criteria¶ | Exclusion criteria | Setting |
BAMSE (The Stockholm Children Allergy and Environmental Prospective Birth Cohort Study) | Sweden | 1994–1996 | 4089 | Birth in the selected areas | Disabled infants, plan to move, language barrier | Three areas of Stockholm (urban and suburban) |
BiB (Born in Bradford) | England | 2007–2010 | 1716 | Birth at reference hospital | Plan to move before birth | Bradford (largely urban) |
GINIplus (German Infant Nutritional Intervention study plus influence of pollution and genetics on allergy development) | Germany | 1995–1998 | 5991 | Healthy full-term newborns of German descent | Severe illness newborn, pre-term birth, low birthweight, language barrier, maternal history of immune-related disease, long-term medication or drug/alcohol abuse | Munich (mostly urban), Wesel (mostly rural) |
INMA (Childhood and Environment) | ||||||
Menorca | Spain | 1997–1998 | 482 | Birth at reference hospital | Language barrier, assisted reproduction, mother <16 years, multiple births | Menorca (mostly urban) |
Valencia | Spain | 2003–2005 | 855 | Birth at reference hospital | Language barrier, assisted reproduction, mother <16 years, multiple births | Valencia (mostly urban) |
Sabadell | Spain | 2004–2007 | 772 | Birth at reference hospital | Language barrier, assisted reproduction, mother <16 years, multiple births | Sabadell (mostly urban) |
Gipuzkoa | Spain | 2006–2008 | 406 | Birth at reference hospital | Language barrier, assisted reproduction, mother <16 years, multiple births | Gipuzkoa (mostly urban) |
LISAplus (Influence of lifestyle factors on the development of the immune system and allergies in East and West Germany plus the influence of traffic emissions and genetics) | Germany | 1997–1998 | 3094 | Healthy full-term newborns of German descent | Severe illness newborn, pre-term birth, low birthweight, language barrier, maternal history of immune-related disease, long-term medication or drug/alcohol abuse | Munich (mostly urban), Wesel (mostly rural), Leipzig (mostly urban), Bad Honneff (mostly rural) |
MAS (Multicentre Allergy Study) | Germany | 1990 | 1314 | Birth at reference hospitals | Language barrier, complications at birth, pre-term birth, low birthweight | Berlin, Düsseldorf, Freiburg, Mainz, Munich (urban) |
PARIS (Pollution and Asthma Risk: an Infant Study) | France | 2003–2006 | 1549 | Healthy newborns | Pre-term, low birthweight, intensive care treatment, language barrier | Paris and three suburbs (urban) |
PIAMA (Prevention and Incidence of Asthma and Mite Allergy) | The Netherlands | 1996–1997 | 3963 | Usable screening questionnaire | Mix of rural, urban, suburban | |
RHEA (Mother Child Cohort in Crete) | Greece | 2007–2008 | 1336 | Birth at reference hospitals | Mother ≤16 years, language barrier | Heraklion (island, mix of urban, suburban and rural) |
ROBBIC (Rome and Bologna Birth Italian Cohorts) | ||||||
Co.N.ER (Bologna birth cohort) | Italy | 2004–2005 | 434 | Mother Italian citizen, birth at reference hospital | Language barrier, newborn moved hospital, mother ≤18 years | Bologna (urban) |
GASPII (Gene and Environment: Prospective Study on Infancy in Italy) | Italy | 2003–2004 | 694 | Mother Italian resident | Language barrier, newborn moved hospital, mother ≤17 years | Rome (urban) |
#: number of pregnant women or mothers as used in this study; ¶: inclusion based on area of residence specified in last column.