A call has gone out to the original children of the 90s in the Bristol area who have lost touch with the ground-breaking study to get back in touch, after it was awarded more than £5 million to continue going for at least another five years.
And the experts running the famous ‘Children of the 90s’ study said they would particularly like to hear from any of the original babies whose parents signed up more than 30 years ago, if they now have their own children or are expecting.
The second generation of the study are known as ‘COCOs’ – the Children of the Children of the 90s – and as the study approaches 35 years old, those babies born in what was then called ‘Avon’ are now having children of their own. The people running the study have even begun to have COCOCOs, as a handful of the original babies have become grandparents already.
Most people who grew up in what is now Bristol, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset, Bath and North East Somerset and west Wiltshire in the 1990s and 2000s will know someone who was one of the ‘Children of the 90s’.
The study is formally known as ALSPAC, or the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. A total of more than 14,500 women giving birth in the Bath, Bristol and Weston areas between April 1991 and the end of 1992 signed up to take part in the study. At the time, it was a thing almost everyone did – around 80 per cent of babies born in the area had their lives measured, from the womb to today.
Incredibly, about half of those babies – who are now in their early 30s – are still part of the study, and over the years, they and their parents have filled in regular questionnaires, been tested, measured and monitored at regular intervals, and asked about everything from their sleeping patterns or their mental health to the time when they first got drunk, to their exam results.
The study, set up by Prof Jean Golding, has proved to be a remarkable benefit to science and health, and the data has been mined by researchers, scientists and medics from all over the world. More than 3,000 medical papers have been produced using the information about Bristol’s Children of the 90s, and changed and advanced medicine, medical advice and policy across the world for decades.
The data from the millions of questions asked of the Children of the 90s and their parents is still informing scientists and doctors today. Every week something jaw-dropping emerges from the study.
Just this week, for example, researchers from the University of Bristol – the Children of the 90s’ home base – announced that children who lack fish in their diets are less sociable and kind. That eyebrow-raising headline, from the university itself, was prompted by a CO90s study that found children who consumed the least amounts of seafood when they were seven years old were likely to be ‘less pro-social’ between the ages of seven and nine than those who regularly consumed seafood. Pro-social behaviour, the scientists explained, includes having friendly interactions, altruism and sharing.
The stunning discovery – that children are nicer to other kids and adults if they eat seafood – is down to omega-3 fatty acids, selenium and iodine, and the scientists recommend that children should consume at least two portions of fish a week, one of them being an oily fish like salmon or mackerel.
The sheer size of the Children of the 90s study – that kids’ fish report used data from almost 6,000 of the participants – is the study’s strength. Even when taking into account social and demographic factors, it covers enough people from a wide enough group of people to be robust, and coupled with the 34 years of data, it has made the study one of the most important and respected in the world.
Over the years, the study has contributed to huge advances in public health knowledge and advice, covering all aspects of health and wellbeing from eczema, body weight and child development to autism, mental health and pregnancy.
The CO90s study is one of a handful of such studies of large groups of a population, and others have followed suit in the 2000s and 2010s around the world. Now, the £5.2 million research grant has guaranteed it will continue for another five years, when the next generation of COCOs will be taking part.
That’s why researchers want to hear from anyone who was one of the Children of the 90s back when they were a kid, but dropped out for one reason or another. Now, as adults, they can get back in touch.
More than 2,000 ‘COCOs’ have already been signed up by their CO90 parents, and more are being born every week. The first mum to sign up back in early 1991 was Michele Pilgrim, and she’s still on board.
“As the mother of a participant of Children of the 90s, I have felt it a privilege to take part in such an important study, one that will without doubt help improve the health of children in the next generation and beyond,” she said.
“I have enjoyed taking part in various studies myself as my own health has always been important to me and I will be happy to continue to participate for as long as necessary,” she added.
The value of the CO90s study is recognised internationally. The team recently moved from their base at the university and the BRI to a new home at the University of Bristol’s hub at Southmead Hospital. Prof Patrick Chinnery is the chair of the Medical Research Council.
“Children of the 90s is one of the world’s leading birth cohort studies which we have supported since the very first mothers and babies were recruited over 30 years ago,” he said.
“We eagerly continue our support as the cohort studies the next generation, and anticipate many more invaluable insights into how environmental and genetic factors affect a person’s health and development,” he added.