Data Resource Profile: China Cohort Consortium (CCC)

Establishing a Multifaceted Comprehensive Maternity Cohort Facilitates Understanding of How Environmental Exposures Impact Perinatal Health

China's "three-child policy", implemented in response to population aging, has made the protection of maternal and infant health an urgent priority. In this environmental and medical big-data era, the Zhejiang Environmental and Birth Health Research Alliance (ZEBRA) maternity cohort was established with the aim of identifying risk factors for perinatal morbidity and mortality from the perspectives of both observational epidemiology and experimental etiology. Compared with conventional birth cohorts, the inclusion of a maternity cohort allows greater scope for research and places an emphasis on maternal health. In particular, it allows us to focus on pregnant women with a history of pregnancy-related illnesses and those planning to have a second or third child. There are currently many pressing issues in perinatal health, including the risk associations between exogenous together with endogenous factors and the occurrence of perinatal abnormalities, pregnancy complications, and adverse pregnancy outcomes. It is crucial to explore the interaction between environmental exposures and genetic factors affecting perinatal health if we are to improve it. It is also worthwhile to assess the feasibility of the early stage prediction of major perinatal abnormalities. We hope to study this in the ZEBRA cohort and also seek nationwide and international collaborations to establish a multicenter cohort consortium, with the ultimate goal of contributing epidemiological evidence to literature and providing evidence-based insights for global maternal and child healthcare.

The relationship between occupational physical activity and dyslipidaemia in farmers with varying working modes in southwest China: the China multi-ethnic cohort study

Background

Farmers are the integral members of rural communities. In the present study, we determined the association between occupational physical activity (OPA) of farmers and dyslipidaemia.

Methods

We included 7649 farmers from The China Multi-Ethnic Cohort (CMEC) Study. The working modes of all farmers were divided into four types according to their self-reported seasonal changes in farming work and/or other job changes (1: no change; 2: changing job; 3: seasonal changes; and 4: seasonal and job changes). OPA was self-reported, and the OPA levels in the four groups were classified as Q1, Q2–Q3, and Q4 by quantile. Dyslipidaemia was defined as the presence of abnormalities in lipid indicators. Binary logistic regression was used to estimate the association between OPA and dyslipidaemia.

Results

Compared with those in the no change group, the participants in other three groups were younger with lower level of education, annual income, and leisure-time physical activity (LTPA). Active OPA could reduce the risk of dyslipidaemia in the no change [men: odds ratios (OR) = 0.21, 95% confidence intervals (CI): 0.07–0.64; women: OR = 0.43, 95% CI: 0.20–0.93] and seasonal change (men: OR = 0.46, 95% CI: 0.27–0.77; women: OR = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.41–0.86) groups. However, in the seasonal and job change group (men: OR = 3.23, 95% CI: 1.06–9.80; women: OR = 3.24, 95% CI: 1.42–7.41), active OPA increased the risk of dyslipidaemia.

Conclusions

Different OPA levels might lead to differences in association with blood lipid levels. Thus, OPA guidelines must be developed for farmers, especially for those who experience seasonal changes in farming work and job changes.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-022-13266-x.