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Cited by 62Child Nutrition and Feeding IssuesInfant Nutrition and HealthChild Nutrition and Water Access

Cohort Profile: The Gateshead Millennium Study

Open access
Parkinson, K. N., Pearce, M. S., Dale, A., Reilly, J. J., Drewett, R. F., Wright, C. M., Relton, C. L., McArdle, P. +2 more·2011·International Journal of Epidemiology
DOI 10.1093/ije/dyq015
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Abstract

The Gateshead Millennium Baby Study (GMBS) originated from the observation that slower than expected weight gain in infancy, traditionally known as failure to thrive, but more recently as ‘weight faltering’, had never been satisfactorily explained. There were methodological problems associated with much previous research. The first was the use of attained weight criteria to identify slow weight gain in infancy, which confounds poor postnatal weight gain with poor prenatal weight gain. The second was the use of referred samples of children, leading to selection biases. The third was the use of retrospective accounts from parents after poor weight gain had already been identified. The GMBS was thus originally designed to investigate the antecedents of weight faltering in a population-based prospective study that addressed the main methodological problems of previous research. The original GMBS set out to examine infant feeding behaviour and relate it to subsequent weight gain and weight faltering. It also investigated risk factors for iron deficiency in infancy. Relevant maternal characteristics including feeding style, eating attitudes and depression were also examined. More recently, the title of the study has been changed to Gateshead Millennium Study (GMS) to reflect the age of the cohort. The study has continued to focus on feeding and growth, with three additional areas of interest emerging. First, it investigated aspects of developmental psychopathology using measurements principally taken at 5–6 years of age. A recent UK prevalence survey in 5–19-year-olds reported that mental health disorders are common, affecting ∼8%, and that sub-threshold symptoms were even more common.1 Eating disorders comprise an important social and medical problem developing during late childhood. Accurate figures on the prevalence of eating disorders have not been easy to establish. Those in a recent comprehensive review suggest a prevalence of 0.28% for anorexia nervosa, 1% for bulimia nervosa, 1.5% for night-eating syndrome and 2.3% for binge-eating disorder.2–4 A much higher proportion of young women report less specifically diagnosable problems such as occasional binge eating or self-induced vomiting or score high on tests of abnormal eating attitudes.5 There is also evidence that sub-threshold eating disorders are commonly associated with depression in adolescents, and there is a strong link between restrictive eating and aggression, attempted suicide and substance misuse.6,7 Most longitudinal studies of disordered eating have started in the teenage years, but the strongest predictor of later disordered eating in these studies has always been disordered eating at the start of the study.8 There is some evidence for continuity between earlier feeding problems and later eating disorder symptoms9 and we are examining this systematically in this study. The GMS also investigated children’s emotional and behavioural development, and social communication skills. A topic of particular interest has been the development and prevalence of repetitive behaviours, which are key behaviours in autistic spectrum disorder but are also found in typically developing children. These repetitive behaviours can range from repetitive motor mannerisms and intense special interests or hobbies to more unusual sensory interests in the sight, taste, sound, smell or texture of objects or people.10 The GMS provided an opportunity to investigate prospectively the relationship between various symptoms of psychopathology in typically developing children, and to identify early risk and protective factors for both eating problems and mental health disorders. The second new area of interest was the high and rising rates of childhood obesity.11–13 It was known that body mass index (BMI; weight/height2) tracks through later childhood into adulthood14 and that teenage and adult obesity are associated with increased health risks.15–18 It was also suggested that low birth weight and subsequent underweight in infancy are related to an increased risk of a number of chronic diseases in adulthood, including obesity.19 However, detailed normative data are scarce and little was known about how lean and fat mass vary between individual children and how far early weight gain is associated with early childhood fatness. In addition, risk factors for early adiposity, such as dietary intake, physical activity and sedentary behaviour, needed to be investigated. Finally, there was the potential for intervention to reduce new cases of obesity in childhood. Evidence suggested that family-based interventions offered potential for success in prevention of obesity,20 yet little information is available on what the content and approach of interventions should be and which would be acceptable to families. The GMS was able to investigate these issues when the cohort was aged 6–8 years. The third new area of interest was the mechanisms by which early life exposures may influence health

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Authors
Parkinson, K. N., Pearce, M. S., Dale, A., Reilly, J. J., Drewett, R. F., Wright, C. M., Relton, C. L., McArdle, P., Le Couteur, A. S., & Adamson, A. J.
Affiliations
Durham University (GB)
Corresponding author
Parkinson, K. N.
ORCID
Venue
International Journal of Epidemiology
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published
2010-03-23
Volume
40
Issue
2
Pages
308-317
ISSN
  • 0300-5771 (ISSN-L)
  • 1464-3685
DOI
10.1093/ije/dyq015
OpenAlex
W2109762681
Cited by
62
References
62
Citations by year
2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 10
FWCI
5.47
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
other-oa
Locations
  • International Journal of Epidemiology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Bristol Research (University of Bristol) (publishedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam) (submittedVersion)
  • HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
  • Explore Bristol Research (submittedVersion)
  • Trinity's Access to Research Output (TARA) (Trinity College Dublin) (submittedVersion)
  • Newcastle University ePrints (Newcastle Univesity)
Funders
  • National Institute for Health and Care Research (PHCS/C4/4/008)
  • Economic and Social Research Council (ES/G007470/1)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Child Nutrition and Feeding Issues
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Infant Nutrition and Health
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Child Nutrition and Water Access
Keywords
infant feeding behavior, infant growth, maternal feeding styles, maternal depression, eating disorders, disordered eating, developmental psychopathology, child mental health
MeSH terms
Child, Child, Preschool, England, Failure to Thrive, Feeding Behavior, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Infant, Infant, Newborn, Obesity, Prospective Studies, Weight Gain, Weight Loss, Anemia, Iron-Deficiency

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