Health

Infants’ health is mainly determined by the course of the pregnancy and the circumstances surrounding their birth. These in turn are subject to a variety of risk factors (e.g. mother’s state of health, healthcare consumption, environmental factors) that may or may not have been present prior to the pregnancy. Each infant’s weight and condition at birth, and whether it was born at term or preterm, are analysed in relation to all these risk factors and their interactions.

Everyday accidents are the leading cause of death among children. They frequently involve household products or falls in the home (e.g., falling downstairs, slipping in the bath), while exceptional events, such as moving house, a new birth or a family argument, increase the likelihood of a child having an accident. This research will make it possible to calculate the frequency of such injuries and find out what happens to the children who experience them.

Asthma and allergies have become increasingly frequent in industrialized countries over recent decades. By tracking the children’s exposure to various risk factors and the occurrence of respiratory pathologies, we will be able to find out why some factors present in early childhood determine the onset of respiratory disease in adolescence.

Ever since they left the maternity unit, Elfe has been recording variations in the children’s healthcare consumption, taking account of their condition at birth and the health problems they subsequently develop, as well as their mothers’ state of health. The links between the pathologies observed in the children, their life experiences and various sociodemographic variables (parents’ age, occupation, housing, education level, etc.) are also analysed.

Several infections contracted by women during their pregnancy can be transmitted to the fetus and affect the health of the baby to varying degrees. For example, they can impair his or her psychomotor or neurosensory development, as in the case of toxoplasmosis.