Academic Journal

The PRIMERO birth cohort: Design and baseline characteristics

Bibliographic Details
Title: The PRIMERO birth cohort: Design and baseline characteristics
Authors: Jonathan I. Witonsky, MD, MAS, Jennifer R. Elhawary, MS, Celeste Eng, BS, Sam S. Oh, PhD, MPH, Sandra Salazar, Maria G. Contreras, BS, Vivian Medina, RN, BSN, SC, Elizabeth A. Secor, MA, Priscilla Zhang, BS, Jamie L. Everman, PhD, Ana Fairbanks-Mahnke, BS, Elmar Pruesse, PhD, Satria P. Sajuthi, PhD, Chih-Hao Chang, PhD, MPH, Tsunami Rosado Guerrero, BS, Keyshla Canales Fuentes, BS, Natalie Lopez, MD, Chris Angely Montañez-López, MS, Emily Vazquez Morales, MD, Nicole Vazquez Morales, MD, Richeliz Alfonso Otero, MD, Raymarie Colon Rivera, BS, Leysha Rodriguez, BA, Gabriela Vazquez, BS, Donglei Hu, PhD, Scott Huntsman, MS, Nathan D. Jackson, PhD, Yingchun Li, MD, PhD, Andrew Morin, MA, Natalie A. Nieves, BS, Cydney Rios, BS, Gonzalo Serrano, BS, Blake J.M. Williams, MS, Elad Ziv, MD, Camille M. Moore, PhD, Dean Sheppard, MD, Esteban González Burchard, MD, MPH, Max A. Seibold, PhD, Jose R. Rodríguez-Santana, MD
Source: Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: Global, Vol 4, Iss 3, Pp 100470- (2025)
Publisher Information: Elsevier
Publication Year: 2025
Collection: Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles
Subject Terms: Childhood asthma, respiratory illness, birth cohort, gene–environment interactions, transcriptomics, viral pathogen detection, Immunologic diseases. Allergy, RC581-607
Description: Background: Although early-life respiratory illnesses (RIs) are linked to childhood asthma, it is unclear whether children are predisposed to both conditions or if RIs induce alterations that lead to asthma. Puerto Rican children, who bear a disproportionate burden of early-life RIs and asthma, are an important population for studying this relationship. Objective: We sought to describe the design and baseline characteristics of the Puerto Rican Infant Metagenomic and Epidemiologic Study of Respiratory Outcomes (PRIMERO) birth cohort. Methods: PRIMERO is designed to examine the role of respiratory viruses on the development of RIs and asthma. Pregnant women were recruited at Hospital Interamericano de Medicina Avanzada–San Pablo in Caguas, Puerto Rico. Questionnaires at birth and annual follow-ups gather clinical, social, and environmental data. Collected samples include postterm maternal blood; infant cord blood; the child’s blood at year 2; and the child’s nasal airway epithelium at birth, during RIs over the first 2 years, and annually until age 5. Results: We enrolled 2,100 mother–child dyads into the PRIMERO study between February 2020 and June 2023, representing 59% of births at Hospital Interamericano de Medicina Avanzada. As of April 29, 2024, 2,069 participants remain active, with high rates of biospecimen collection and annual visit participation. Illness surveillance detected 6,076 RIs, with 38.4% involving the lower respiratory tract. Conclusion: The PRIMERO birth cohort study, with its comprehensive data on viral exposures, respiratory outcomes, and airway molecular phenotypes in a high-risk population of Puerto Rican children, is uniquely positioned to address long-standing questions about the early-life determinants and mechanisms underlying virus-related asthma development.
Document Type: article in journal/newspaper
Language: English
Relation: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772829325000712; https://doaj.org/toc/2772-8293; https://doaj.org/article/c5b04f4d5ad9490d83072eb8f060dc34
DOI: 10.1016/j.jacig.2025.100470
Availability: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacig.2025.100470
https://doaj.org/article/c5b04f4d5ad9490d83072eb8f060dc34
Accession Number: edsbas.3296DC1F
Database: BASE
Description
DOI:10.1016/j.jacig.2025.100470