The Children’s Respiratory and Environmental Workgroup (CREW) birth cohort consortium: design, methods, and study population
Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Single birth cohort studies have been the basis for many discoveries about early life risk factors for childhood asthma but are limited in scope by sample size and characteristics of the local environment and population. The Children's Respiratory and Environmental Workgroup (CREW) was established to integrate multiple established asthma birth cohorts and to investigate asthma phenotypes and associated causal pathways (endotypes), focusing on how they are influenced by interactions between genetics, lifestyle, and environmental exposures during the prenatal period and early childhood. METHODS AND RESULTS: CREW is funded by the NIH Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program, and consists of 12 individual cohorts and three additional scientific centers. The CREW study population is diverse in terms of race, ethnicity, geographical distribution, and year of recruitment. We hypothesize that there are phenotypes in childhood asthma that differ based on clinical characteristics and underlying molecular mechanisms. Furthermore, we propose that asthma endotypes and their defining biomarkers can be identified based on personal and early life environmental risk factors. CREW has three phases: 1) to pool and harmonize existing data from each cohort, 2) to collect new data using standardized procedures, and 3) to enroll new families during the prenatal period to supplement and enrich extant data and enable unified systems approaches for identifying asthma phenotypes and endotypes. CONCLUSIONS: The overall goal of CREW program is to develop a better understanding of how early life environmental exposures and host factors interact to promote the development of specific asthma endotypes.
Source: Respiratory Research
Authors: James E. Gern, Daniel J. Jackson, Robert F. Lemanske, Christine M. Seroogy, Umberto Tachinardi, Mark Craven, Stephen Y. Hwang, Carol M. Hamilton, Wayne Huggins, George T. O’Connor, Diane R. Gold, Rachel Miller, Meyer Kattan, Christine C. Johnson, Dennis Ownby, Edward M. Zoratti, Robert A. Wood, Cynthia M. Visness, Fernando Martinez, Anne Wright, Susan Lynch, Carole Ober, Gurjit K. Khurana Hershey, Patrick Ryan, Tina Hartert, Leonard B. Bacharier
Institutions: University of Wisconsin–Madison, RTI International, Boston University, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Columbia University, Henry Ford Health, Johns Hopkins University, Rho (United States), University of Arizona, University of California, San Francisco, University of Chicago, University of Cincinnati, Vanderbilt University, Washington University in St. Louis
Language: English
Subfield: Physiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,570
Funders: Pfizer, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi, World Health Organization, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Medicine, Boston University, Henry Ford Health System, Johns Hopkins University, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Marshfield Clinic Research Institute, Japan Association for Chemical Innovation, Augusta University, Aimmune Therapeutics, Astellas Pharma, Vifor Pharma, National Institutes of Health, Genentech, University of California, San Francisco, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
OpenAlex ID: W2949237992