Thanks to the fantastic number of families continuing in the follow-up visits, we were able to secure further funding for an exciting visit at age 6-8 years for the children born to families taking part in the NiPPeR study. We have now started to analyse the measurements, and we look forward to sharing our findings and future plans with you over the coming period.
Thank you for all your continued support!
The visit included:
Body composition, including dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA)
The amounts of muscle, fat and bone in the body were measured by the DXA scan machine. This uses a very low amount of X-rays to tell us how strong your child’s bones are.
Biosampling
Children provided samples, including urine, blood and stool, to give important further information about their health and wellbeing.
Thinking skills
We asked children to play some fun games that tested their brain power! Some of these were on an iPad and some were questions asked by the nurse or research assistant.
Physical activity
We wanted to find out whether your child is someone who often sits still or who moves around lots. Special wrist watches were worn by the children to tell us how active they are.
Allergy testing
A skin prick test was taken on the child’s forearm to check for reaction to common allergens.
Skin tapes
Small sticky tapes were applied to the skin to collect a sample from the surface of the skin that we will analyse for several skin markers. This will allow us to examine the skin for various changes that may indicate risk for certain skin conditions such as eczema or later acne.
Feedback from the children
"I loved playing all the games on the tablet and really loved the game with the cubes. I got to take my picture of my bones into my class to show them, everyone thought it was really cool."
"I told my teacher and friends all about my trips to the hospital and they asked lots questions."
Further information
United Kingdom
Contact the UK study team at the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre in Southampton on 07468 758999 or nipper@mrc.soton.ac.uk
New Zealand
Contact the New Zealand team by emailing nipper@auckland.ac.nz
Singapore
Contact the Singapore team on 97386225 or nipper@nuhs.edu.sg