Adriëtte Oostvogels

1 15 General introduction 4. Children from ethnic minority populations or from low socioeconomic backgrounds have different BMI growth patterns to overweight at age 5-6 years compared with children from European origin and/or from a high socioeconomic background. 5. Girls are more susceptible to the adverse consequences of maternal overweight before pregnancy on growth patterns and cardiometabolic profile at age 5-6 years. Data and Methods The research described in this thesis was conducted within the multi-ethnic prospective Amsterdam Born Children and their Development study (ABCD-study). 155 The ABCD-study is a population-based, prospective, longitudinal birth cohort with the main goal to examine and determine factors in early life that might explain the later health of the child, and differences in health between children. Data used in this thesis was derived from the first three phases of the ABCD-study. In phase 1, pregnancy, women filled in a questionnaire, participated in the biomarker study for which an extra blood sample was drawn during routine blood collection for screening purposes and gave permission for the perusal of their health care files. As part of this thesis, pregnancy files were retrieved at midwifery practices and hospitals. From these files data on anthropometrics, gestational age, blood pressure, urine analyses, hemoglobin, glucose, diabetes screening, hypertensive medication, and ultrasounds were retrieved. Of the 7043 women who gave permission for perusal of their files, health care files of 6741 women (96%) were found and screened. In phase 2, infancy, mothers who gave permission for follow-up filled in a questionnaire and infant growth data was obtained from Youth Health Care files. In phase 3, childhood, mothers filled out a questionnaire after their children turned 5, and children were measured and blood samples were drawn at the ABCD health check. For more information on the exact numbers and measurements used in this thesis see Figure 2 and Box 1.