Opportunities for Examining Child Health Impacts of Early-Life Nutrition in the ECHO Program: Maternal and Child Dietary Intake Data from Pregnancy to Adolescence

Megan G Bragg; Matt Westlake; Akram N Alshawabkeh; Traci A Bekelman; Carlos A Camargo Jr; Diane J Catellier; Sarah S Comstock; Dana Dabelea; Anne L Dunlop; Monique M Hedderson; Christine W Hockett; Margaret R Karagas; Kate Keenan; Nichole R Kelly; Jean M Kerver; Debra MacKenzie; Somdat Mahabir; Luis E Maldonado; Lacey A McCormack; Melissa M Melough; Noel T Mueller; Morgan E Nelson; Thomas G O'Connor; Emily Oken; T Michael O'Shea; Karen M Switkowski; Katherine A Sauder; Rosalind J Wright; Robert O Wright; Xueying Zhang; Yeyi Zhu; Kristen Lyall; program collaborators for Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes

doi:10.1016/j.cdnut.2023.102019

Opportunities for Examining Child Health Impacts of Early-Life Nutrition in the ECHO Program: Maternal and Child Dietary Intake Data from Pregnancy to Adolescence

Curr Dev Nutr. 2023 Oct 23;7(11):102019. doi: 10.1016/j.cdnut.2023.102019. eCollection 2023 Nov.

Authors

Megan G Bragg¹, Matt Westlake², Akram N Alshawabkeh³, Traci A Bekelman⁴, Carlos A Camargo Jr⁵, Diane J Catellier², Sarah S Comstock⁶, Dana Dabelea⁴, Anne L Dunlop⁷, Monique M Hedderson⁸, Christine W Hockett^{9

10}, Margaret R Karagas¹¹, Kate Keenan¹², Nichole R Kelly¹³, Jean M Kerver¹⁴, Debra MacKenzie¹⁵, Somdat Mahabir¹⁶, Luis E Maldonado¹⁷, Lacey A McCormack^{9

10}, Melissa M Melough^{18

19}, Noel T Mueller²⁰, Morgan E Nelson², Thomas G O'Connor²¹, Emily Oken²², T Michael O'Shea²³, Karen M Switkowski²², Katherine A Sauder⁴, Rosalind J Wright²⁴, Robert O Wright²⁴, Xueying Zhang²⁴, Yeyi Zhu⁸, Kristen Lyall¹; program collaborators for Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes

Affiliations

¹ AJ Drexel Autism Institute, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
² RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC, United States.
³ College of Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States.
⁴ Lifecourse Epidemiology of Adiposity and Diabetes (LEAD) Center, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, United States.
⁵ Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.
⁶ Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States.
⁷ Department of Gynecology & Obstetrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States.
⁸ Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research, Oakland, CA, United States.
⁹ Avera Research Institute, Sioux Falls, SD, United States.
¹⁰ Department of Pediatrics, University of South Dakota School of Medicine, Sioux Falls, SD, United States.
¹¹ Department of Epidemiology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH, United States.
¹² Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States.
¹³ Department of Counseling Psychology and Human Services, College of Education, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, United States.
¹⁴ Departments of Epidemiology & Biostatistics and Pediatrics & Human Development, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States.
¹⁵ Community Environmental Health Program, College of Pharmacy, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, NM, United States.
¹⁶ National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States.
¹⁷ Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
¹⁸ Department of Health Behavior and Nutrition Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, United States.
¹⁹ Department of Child Health, Behavior and Development, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, WA, United States.
²⁰ Department of Epidemiology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States.
²¹ Departments of Psychiatry, Neuroscience, Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, United States.
²² Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, MA, United States.
²³ Department of Pediatrics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, United States.
²⁴ Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States.

Abstract

Background: Longitudinal measures of diet spanning pregnancy through adolescence are needed from a large, diverse sample to advance research on the effect of early-life nutrition on child health. The Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program, which includes 69 cohorts, >33,000 pregnancies, and >31,000 children in its first 7-y cycle, provides such data, now publicly available.

Objectives: This study aimed to describe dietary intake data available in the ECHO Program as of 31 August, 2022 (end of year 6 of Cycle 1) from pregnancy through adolescence, including estimated sample sizes, and to highlight the potential for future analyses of nutrition and child health.

Methods: We identified and categorized ECHO Program dietary intake data, by assessment method, participant (pregnant person or child), and life stage of data collection. We calculated the number of maternal-child dyads with dietary data and the number of participants with repeated measures. We identified diet-related variables derived from raw dietary intake data and nutrient biomarkers measured from biospecimens.

Results: Overall, 66 cohorts (26,941 pregnancies, 27,103 children, including 22,712 dyads) across 34 US states/territories provided dietary intake data. Dietary intake assessments included 24-h recalls (1548 pregnancies and 1457 children), food frequency questionnaires (4902 and 4117), dietary screeners (8816 and 23,626), and dietary supplement use questionnaires (24,798 and 26,513). Repeated measures were available for ∼70%, ∼30%, and ∼15% of participants with 24-h recalls, food frequency questionnaires, and dietary screeners, respectively. The available diet-related variables describe nutrient and food intake, diet patterns, and breastfeeding practices. Overall, 17% of participants with dietary intake data had measured nutrient biomarkers.

Conclusions: ECHO cohorts have collected longitudinal dietary intake data spanning pregnancy through adolescence from a geographically, socioeconomically, and ethnically diverse US sample. As data collection continues in Cycle 2, these data present an opportunity to advance the field of nutrition and child health.

Keywords: child health; child nutrition; diet assessment; nutrient biomarkers; nutrition research; pregnancy nutrition.

Abstract

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