Copenhagen Baby Heart

Copenhagen Baby Heart is an observational, cohort study of >30.000 children born in the Copenhagen area 2016-2018.

Purpose

• To assess the prevalence of congenital and inherited heart disease not detected prenatally, e.g. bicuspid aortic valve.
• To assess the diagnostic and clinical yield of routine echocardiography in neonates.
• To establish reference values for echocardiography and ECG for Danish neonates.
• To establish reference values for routine biochemical analyses in umbilical cord blood.
• To assess the prevalence of familial hypercholesterolemia in Danish newborns.
• To assess the life-long development of cardiovascular disease as well as other conditions and to study associations between both pre- and postnatal exposure and disease, including life style, environmental and genetic factors.

Methods Approximately 18.000 children are born yearly in the Copenhagen area. From 1. April 2016 - 1. April 2018 the parents of all newborns will be offered enrollment in the research project when attending a routine prenatal ultrasound.

Investigators plan to enroll >30.000 newborns.

After birth, blood is drawn from the umbilical chord and immediately analyzed for routine biochemical markers. Samples will also be stored for future biochemical analyses and DNA sequencing.

Within the first 14 days of life the children are examined with standardized echocardiography, electrocardiogram and measurements of oxygen saturation.

Information about maternal and paternal health including inherited disorders within the family as well as information about the pregnancy and birth are collected in a central database.

Follow-up When indicated children will be followed clinically. For research-purposes, prospective, register-based follow-up is planned for the entire birth cohort and with clinical visits for sub-groups of the population.

Inclusion criteria

• Born at one of three hospitals in the Copenhagen area

Exclusion criteria

• Failure of providing consent (parents)