Maternal caffeine intake during pregnancy and the risk of childhood asthma by 10 years of age-Evidence from The Generation XXI birth cohort study.

Background: We aimed to investigate the association between maternal caffeine intake during pregnancy and asthma in children by 10 years of age.

Methods: We considered 5585 mother-child pairs enrolled in a population-based birth cohort. Consumption of regular and decaffeinated coffee, black and green tea, and cola beverages before and during pregnancy was obtained through face-to-face interviews within 72 h after giving birth, and total caffeine intake (mg/day) was estimated.

A meta-analysis of epigenome-wide association studies of ultra-processed food consumption with DNA methylation in European children.

Background/objective: There is limited knowledge on how diet affects the epigenome of children. Ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption is emerging as an important factor impacting health, but mechanisms need to be uncovered. We therefore aimed to assess the association between UPF consumption and DNA methylation in children.

Transfer learning in spirometry: CNN models for automated flow-volume curve quality control in paediatric populations.

Problem: Current spirometers face challenges in evaluating acceptability criteria, often requiring manual visual inspection by trained specialists. Automating this process could improve diagnostic workflows and reduce variability in test assessments.

Aim: This study aimed to apply transfer learning to convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to automate the classification of spirometry flow-volume curves based on acceptability criteria.

Physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and childhood asthma: a European collaborative analysis.

Objectives: To investigate the associations of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour in early childhood with asthma and reduced lung function in later childhood within a large collaborative study.

Design: Pooling of longitudinal data from collaborating birth cohorts using meta-analysis of separate cohort-specific estimates and analysis of individual participant data of all cohorts combined.

Setting: Children aged 0-18 years from 26 European birth cohorts.

Socioeconomic disparities in changes to preterm birth and stillbirth rates during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic: a study of 21 European countries.

Background: Despite concerns about worsening pregnancy outcomes resulting from healthcare restrictions, economic difficulties and increased stress during the COVID-19 pandemic, preterm birth (PTB) rates declined in some countries in 2020, while stillbirth rates appeared stable. Like other shocks, the pandemic may have exacerbated existing socioeconomic disparities in pregnancy, but this remains to be established. Our objective was to investigate changes in PTB and stillbirth by socioeconomic status (SES) in European countries.

Corrigendum: Merging Academy and Healthcare in the Public Health Training of Medical Students.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s40985-020-00146-1.].

The association between probable post-COVID-19 condition and sleep-related parameters: a longitudinal study of non-hospitalised patients.

The long-term effects of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection on sleep remain poorly known. We evaluated the association between probable post-COVID-19 condition and changes in sleep quality and quantity before and after SARS-CoV-2 infection in a consecutive sample of non-hospitalized adults. Individuals were identified with SARS-CoV-2 infection in 2020 at the central laboratory of a tertiary hospital in Porto and followed as outpatients.

Obstetric Interventions Among Native and Migrant Women: The (Over)use of Episiotomy in Portugal.

Episiotomy, defined as the incision of the perineum to enlarge the vaginal opening during childbirth, is one of the most commonly performed surgical interventions in the world. We aimed to determine if migrant status is associated with episiotomy, and if individual characteristics mediate this association. We analyzed data from the Bambino study, a national, prospective cohort of migrant and native women giving birth at a public hospital in mainland Portugal between 2017 and 2019.

Prevalence of Parental Violent Discipline Toward Children: Findings From A Portuguese Population.

Despite recognizing the detrimental impact of parental violence on children's mental and physical health throughout their lives, violence remains an all-too-real part of life for many children around the globe. However, data on the child-reported prevalence of experienced family violence are scarce and primarily based on parental reports. This study aimed to broaden the body of evidence and measure the lifetime prevalence of child-reported experience of violent disciplinary practices perpetrated by parents and to identify its associated sociodemographic and economic factors.

Parental infertility and offspring cardiometabolic trajectories: a pooled analysis of three European cohorts.

Objective: To assess whether parental infertility is associated with differences in cardiometabolic trajectories in offspring.

Design: Pooled observational analysis in three prospective cohorts.

Setting: Three nationwide pregnancy cohorts.

Component-resolved diagnosis in childhood and prediction of asthma in early adolescence: A birth cohort study.

Introduction: Component-resolved diagnosis (CRD) has been decisive in exploring the mechanisms of IgE sensitization, but the predictive ability to detect asthma has not been addressed. We aim to develop and evaluate the performance of a personalized predictive algorithm for asthma that integrates information on allergic sensitization using CRD.

Methods: One thousand one hundred one twenty-five children from the Generation XXI birth cohort were randomly selected to perform a screening test for allergic sensitization and a subsample was characterized using CRD against 112 allergen components.

Prediction of movement difficulties at 5 years from parent report at 2 years in children born extremely preterm.

Aim: To assess the predictive validity of parent-reported gross motor impairment (GMI) at age 2 years to detect significant movement difficulties at age 5 years in children born extremely preterm.

Method: Data were from 556 children (270 males, 286 females) born at less than 28 weeks' gestation in 2011 to 2012 in 10 European countries. Parent report of moderate/severe GMI was defined as walking unsteadily or unable to walk unassisted at 2 years corrected age.

Incarceration history is associated with HIV infection among community-recruited people who inject drugs in Europe: A propensity-score matched analysis of cross-sectional studies.

Aims: We measured the association between a history of incarceration and HIV positivity among people who inject drugs (PWID) across Europe.

Design, Setting And Participants: This was a cross-sectional, multi-site, multi-year propensity-score matched analysis conducted in Europe. Participants comprised community-recruited PWID who reported a recent injection (within the last 12 months).

Variation in follow-up for children born very preterm in Europe.

Background: Children born very preterm (<32 weeks of gestation) face high risks of neurodevelopmental and health difficulties compared with children born at term. Follow-up after discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit is essential to ensure early detection and intervention, but data on policy approaches are sparse.

Methods: We investigated the characteristics of follow-up policy and programmes in 11 European countries from 2011 to 2022 using healthcare informant questionnaires and the published/grey literature.

The influence of the Great Recession on perinatal health-an ecological study on the trend changes and regional differences in Portugal.

Background: Few studies examine the relationship between socioeconomic factors and trends in mortality in high-income European countries. Due to the lack of regional-level data, most recent studies on social inequality in Portugal do not investigate regional differences. This study analyses time trends and regional disparities in the evolution of perinatal mortality (PMR) and infant mortality (IMR) associated with demographic and socioeconomic indicators following Portugal's 2008 economic and financial crisis.

The Association between Childhood Obesity and Cardiovascular Changes in 10 Years Using Special Data Science Analysis.

The increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity is a worldwide problem, with several well-known consequences that might start to develop early in life during childhood. The present research based on data from children that have been followed since birth in a previously established cohort study (Generation XXI, Porto, Portugal), taking advantage of State-of-the-Art (SoA) data science techniques and methods, including Neural Architecture Search (NAS), explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI), and Deep Learning (DL), aimed to explore the hidden value of data, namely on electrocardiogram (ECG) records performed during follow-up visits. The combination of these techniques allowed us to clarify subtle cardiovascular changes already present at 10 years of age, which are evident from ECG analysis and probably induced by the presence of obesity.

The contribution to policies of an exposome-based approach to childhood obesity.

Childhood obesity is an increasingly severe public health problem, with a prospective impact on health. We propose an exposome approach to identify actionable risk factors for this condition. Our assumption is that relationships between external exposures and outcomes such as rapid growth, overweight, or obesity in children can be better understood through a "meet-in-the-middle" model.

A double-edged sword: Residents' views on the health consequences of gentrification in Porto, Portugal.

Gentrification is currently shaping the urban environment in important ways. It also contributes to shaping the health of the inhabitants of gentrifying cities, although it is still unclear how. Gentrification processes are often linked to different drivers and have specific local translations, further complicating the study of the relationship between gentrification and health.

Development and validation of predictive equations for spirometry in Portuguese children.

Background: There are no data on lung function reference values for Portuguese children, and the contribution from the Portuguese data set in the Global Lung Function Initiative (GLI) is scant.

Objectives: We aimed to estimate new up-to-date reference values for Portuguese children by fitting a multivariable regression model to a general population sample. Further, we intended to assess the external validity of the obtained reference values and to compare them to the GLI reference values.

Measuring the clustering effect of the SARS-CoV-2 transmission in a school population: a cross-sectional study in a high incidence region.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been a great deal of controversy regarding the role of schools in the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and the relative contribution of students, teachers, and others. To quantify the clustering effect of SARS-CoV-2 infection within classes and schools considering the seroprevalence of specific antibodies among students and school staff (teachers and non-teachers) evaluated in schools located in the Northern region of Portugal. 1517 individuals (1307 students and 210 school staff) from 4 public and 2 private schools, comprising daycare to secondary levels, were evaluated.

Sensitization trajectories to multiple allergen components in a population-based birth-cohort.

Background: The characteristics of allergic sensitization profiles can differ between populations and geographic regions, contributing differently to the association with allergic diseases. Consequently, the sensitization trajectories found in previous studies conducted in Northern Europe may not apply in Southern European countries.

Objective: To identify trajectories of allergic sensitization profiles during childhood and evaluate the association with allergic outcomes, using data from a Portuguese birth cohort.