Collaborative Perinatal Project
The Collaborative Perinatal Project (abbreviated CPP), also known as the National Collaborative Perinatal Project (or NCPP), was a multisite prospective cohort study designed to identify the effects of complications during either pregnancy or the perinatal period on birth and child outcomes, especially neurological disorders such as cerebral palsy.[1] It was conducted by the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke on over 55,000 pregnant mothers at 12 sites across the United States from 1959 to 1965.[2] It is one of the largest and broadest epidemiological studies in American history; according to Mark Klebanoff, "No U.S.-based study of pregnancy and childhood conducted before or since has matched its size, breadth and depth".[3]
History
The CPP originated in 1954, when funding for the study was approved as a line item in the budget of the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness (later renamed the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke). It was originally dubbed the "Collaborative Study of Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Other Neurological and Sensory Disorders of Infants and Children". It was later renamed the Cerebral Palsy Project, and then renamed again to the Collaborative Perinatal Project. More recently, the word "National" has often been added to the name of the study.[4] It was controversial from its inception, with critics arguing that the data being collected was of poor quality, and that the funding for the study would be better spent a larger number of smaller, more focused projects. Nevertheless, later validation studies demonstrated that the study's data was actually high-quality.[3]
Methods
The CPP enrolled its first woman on January 2, 1959. It was conducted at 12 academic centers, which had the advantage of facilitating expert involvement in the research and to complete follow-up, but had the drawback of decreasing representativeness. Each of the centers also had its own sampling frame, but many audits were developed to ensure that participants who were recruited were representative of the sampling frame.[3] Researchers collected data on participants' "pre-pregnancy weight, height, and time to pregnancy; demographic and smoking related data; and reproductive, medical, and gynecological history."[2] Maternal serum screening was also performed on each woman at each study visit.[5]
Published results
The first major report describing the study's findings was The Women and Their Pregnancies, published in 1972.[6][7] The study also followed up on 37,431 babies born from 1959 to 1966; the results of this follow-up were described in the 1979 book The First Year of Life.[8]
References
- Baptiste-Roberts, Kesha; Nicholson, Wanda K.; Wang, Nae-Yuh; Brancati, Frederick L. (January 2012). "Gestational Diabetes and Subsequent Growth Patterns of Offspring: The National Collaborative Perinatal Project". Maternal and Child Health Journal. 16 (1): 125–132. doi:10.1007/s10995-011-0756-2. ISSN 1092-7875. PMC 3707279. PMID 21327952.
- Gesink Law, D. C.; Maclehose, R. F.; Longnecker, M. P. (February 2007). "Obesity and time to pregnancy". Human Reproduction. 22 (2): 414–420. doi:10.1093/humrep/del400. ISSN 0268-1161. PMC 1924918. PMID 17095518.
- Klebanoff, Mark A. (January 2009). "The Collaborative Perinatal Project: a 50-year retrospective". Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology. 23 (1): 2–8. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3016.2008.00984.x. ISSN 1365-3016. PMC 2646177. PMID 19228308.
- Hardy, Janet B. (May 2003). "The Collaborative Perinatal Project". Annals of Epidemiology. 13 (5): 303–311. doi:10.1016/S1047-2797(02)00479-9. PMID 12821268.
- Stroud, Laura R.; Solomon, Catherine; Shenassa, Edmond; Papandonatos, George; Niaura, Raymond; Lipsitt, Lewis P.; LeWinn, Kaja; Buka, Stephen L. (February 2007). "Long-term stability of maternal prenatal steroid hormones from the National Collaborative Perinatal Project: Still valid after all these years". Psychoneuroendocrinology. 32 (2): 140–150. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2006.11.008. PMC 2693201. PMID 17270355.
- Light, Irwin J. (1973-01-01). "The Collaborative Perinatal Study of the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke: The Women and Their Pregnancies". Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. 125 (1): 146. doi:10.1001/archpedi.1973.04160010106025. ISSN 1072-4710.
- Lubchenco, Lula O. (February 1972). "The women and their pregnancies. The collaborative study of the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke". The Journal of Pediatrics. 82 (2): 340. doi:10.1016/S0022-3476(73)80186-6.
- Taylor, Paul M. (1980-09-26). "The First Year of Life: The Collaborative Perinatal Project of the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke". JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association. 244 (13): 1503. doi:10.1001/jama.1980.03310130075046. ISSN 0098-7484.