More than 350,000 pairs of mothers and children participate in the largest European project that examines children's health

The European Commission is committed to safeguarding the health of children. For this reason, the CHICOS project was launched, a scientific initiative which aims to develop an integrated strategy for European research teams that collect data on mothers and their babies. This project, with data from more than 700,000 people (350,000 mothers and their children), is coordinated by the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL) and will hold its first meeting on today and tomorrow in Barcelona.

During these days, researchers from 40 birth cohorts from 17 European countries (Spain, France, Portugal, Britain, Ireland, Finland, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Greece, Netherlands, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Denmark, Faroe Islands) will meet to discuss what research is needed in the next 10 years to improve child health, focusing on important child health problems such as obesity, neurodevelopment and asthma.

The project covers various aspects that can affect children, for example, the effects of alcohol consumption on fetal growth, the influence of socioeconomic factors on the risk of childhood asthma, the importance of fish intake on the development of children or the effects of POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants), measured in blood samples of mothers, on the weight of babies at birth. Dr. Martine Vrijheid, CHICOS project coordinator and CREAL researcher, says "this is a unique opportunity to obtain knowledge of what affects our children so that we can improve their quality of life and their health."

Researchers anticipate that project conclusions will be available in 2012. Subsequently, they will develop a comprehensive set of research recommendations for the European Commission to improve the quality of life of European children.