Chiba study of Mother and Children's Health (C-MACH): cohort study with omics analyses

Purpose Recent epidemiological studies have shown that environmental factors during the fetal period to early childhood might affect the risk of non-communicable diseases in adulthood. This is referred to as the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) concept. The Chiba study of Mother and Children9s Health (C-MACH) is a birth cohort study based on the DOHaD hypothesis and involves multiomics analysis. This study aims to explore the effects of genetic and environmental factors—particularly the fetal environment and postbirth living environment—on children9s health, and to identify potential biomarkers for these effects. Participants The C-MACH consists of three hospital-based cohorts. The study participants are pregnant women at Findings to date Consent to participate was obtained from 433 women. Of these women, 376 women completed questionnaires in the early gestational period. The mean age was 32.5 (4.4) years. The mean body mass index (BMI) was 21.1 (3.0) kg/m 2 . Before pregnancy, 72.3% of the women had a BMI of 18.5–24.9 kg/m 2 . During early pregnancy, 5.0% of the participants smoked. Future plans Primary outcomes are allergy, obesity, endocrine and metabolic disorders, and developmental disorders. Genome-level, metabolome-level, umbilical cord DNA methylation (epigenome), gut microbiota and environmental chemical exposure variables will be evaluated. We will analyse the relationships between the outcomes and analytical variables.