Designing prospective cohort studies for assessing reproductive and developmental toxicity during sensitive windows of human reproduction and development – the LIFE Study
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Robert E. Gore-Langton; Timothy C. Wilcosky; Dana B. Barr; Sungduk Kim; Rajeshwari Sundaram; Germaine M. Buck Louis; Enrique F. Schisterman; Anne M. Sweeney; Courtney D. Lynch; Steven M. Schrader; Zhen Chen
- Source
- Subject
- Pregnancy test
Research design
Gerontology
Adult
Male
Adolescent
Epidemiology
media_common.quotation_subject
Population
Fertility
Article
Cohort Studies
Fetal Development
Young Adult
Pregnancy
Semen
medicine
Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated
Humans
Prospective Studies
education
media_common
education.field_of_study
business.industry
Reproduction
Environmental exposure
Environmental Exposure
Middle Aged
medicine.disease
Maternal Exposure
Research Design
Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health
Cohort
Environmental Pollutants
Female
business
Epidemiologic Methods
Demography
Cohort study
- Language
- English
The relationship between the environment and human fecundity and fertility remains virtually unstudied from a couple-based perspective in which longitudinal exposure data and biospecimens are captured across sensitive windows. In response, we completed the LIFE Study with methodology that intended to empirically evaluate a priori purported methodological challenges: implementation of population-based sampling frameworks suitable for recruiting couples planning pregnancy; obtaining environmental data across sensitive windows of reproduction and development; home-based biospecimen collection; and development of a data management system for hierarchical exposome data. We used two sampling frameworks (i.e., fish/wildlife licence registry and a direct marketing database) for 16 targeted counties with presumed environmental exposures to persistent organochlorine chemicals to recruit 501 couples planning pregnancies for prospective longitudinal follow-up while trying to conceive and throughout pregnancy. Enrolment rates varied from