Neonatal BCG vaccination and atopic dermatitis before 13 months of age: A randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Studies have suggested that Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination may reduce the risk of allergic diseases, including atopic dermatitis. METHODS: The Danish Calmette Study was conducted 2012-2015. Within 7 days of birth new-borns were randomised 1:1 to BCG or no BCG. Exclusion criteria were gestational age <32 weeks, birth weight <1000 g, known immunodeficiency or no Danish-speaking parent. Data were collected through telephone interviews and clinical examinations until 13 months. RESULTS: Clinical atopic dermatitis was diagnosed in 466/2,052 (22.7%) children in the BCG group and 495/1,952 (25.4%) children in the control group (RR = 0.90 [95% confidence intervals 0.80-1.00]). The effect of neonatal BCG vaccination differed significantly between children with atopic predisposition (RR 0.84 (0.74-0.95)) and children without atopic predisposition (RR 1.09 [0.88-1.37]) (test of no interaction, P = .04). CONCLUSION: Among children with atopic predisposition, the number-needed-to-treat with BCG to prevent one case of atopic dermatitis was 21 (12-76).

Developmental milestones in children born post-term in the Danish National Birth Cohort: a main research article.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the timing of reaching developmental milestones in children born post-term. DESIGN: Cohort study. SETTING: The Danish National Birth Cohort: children born between 1997 and 2003. POPULATION: Data were obtained from a cohort of 92 892 pregnancies participating in the first pregnancy interview. All singletons born in gestational weeks 39-45 were identified. The study was then restricted to children who participated in an interview at the age of approximately 18 months and had information on at least one developmental milestone. We excluded children of mothers with chronic diseases from the final analysis. The remaining study population constituted of 43 915 singletons (27 503 born at term; 16 412 born post-term). METHODS: Logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios of late achievement of these developmental milestones, adjusted for potential confounding factors. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Achieving developmental milestones at the time of interview or at a certain age. RESULTS: More children born post-term achieved the assessed developmental milestones compared with children born at term (39-40 weeks). A test for trend for gestational ages 39, 40, and 41 weeks also showed a positive trend at achieving developmental milestones with gestational age at birth in nine out of 14 milestone items. CONCLUSIONS: Children born post-term appear to reach the main developmental milestones at an earlier age than children born at term. The association could also result from bias related to a longer time between conception and interviewing, misclassification of end points, or selection bias.

Prediction of delivery date by sonography in the first and second trimesters.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the dates of delivery predicted by last menstrual period (LMP), crown-rump length (CRL) and biparietal diameter (BPD) with the actual date of delivery in a population of pregnant women divided into those with certain and those with uncertain LMP. METHODS: Healthy women were enrolled at the first visit during their pregnancy to a general practitioner in Odense, Denmark, and underwent ultrasound examinations in the first and second trimesters. Data from a study of 798 women who gave birth in the period August 2001 to April 2003 are presented, although only the 657 spontaneous deliveries were used for analysis (n = 339 and 318 in the certain and uncertain LMP groups, respectively). Data on pregnancy and delivery were collected from the medical records. Wilcoxon's signed rank test was used to test the hypothesis of no difference in prediction error (predicted - actual date of delivery) between the three methods. RESULTS: The median prediction errors estimated by sonography in the first and second trimesters and by corrected LMP according to cycle length were 2.32, 0.16, and 3.00 days, respectively, in women with certain LMP, and 1.71, 0.00, and 3.00 days, respectively, in women with uncertain LMP. The median gestational age at delivery estimated by sonography in the first and second trimesters and by corrected LMP according to cycle length was 282, 280, and 283 days, respectively, in both groups. CONCLUSION: An ultrasound examination in the second trimester (17-22 completed weeks) is the best predictor of the date of delivery at the individual level, followed by an ultrasound examination in the first trimester. Having an uncertain LMP does not affect the sonographic prediction of date of delivery.

[Continuously diminishing menarcheal age in Denmark]. / Et fortsat fald i menarchealderen i Danmark.

INTRODUCTION: The aim was to follow the development of the parameters of the distribution of age at menarche in Danish women in recent decades. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study is based on retrospective data from six different samples with a total of 42,784 women, born in the period 1923-1973. RESULTS: We report a renewed decline in the mean menarcheal age in a large Danish sample after a period with a halt in the trend towards an earlier age at menarche in many North European countries. We find a continuously declining mean menarcheal age in Denmark in women born in the years 1964-1973. In a sample of textile workers born in the years 1939-1968 (n = 12,605) we find a higher mean menarcheal age of one year. DISCUSSION: The results indicate that menarcheal age is still delayed in certain groups in Denmark. It can therefore be expected that the menarcheal age will fall even more in the future.

The Danish National Birth Cohort--its background, structure and aim.

BACKGROUND: It is well known that the time from conception to early childhood has importance for health conditions that reach into later stages of life. Recent research supports this view, and diseases such as cardiovascular morbidity, cancer, mental illnesses, asthma, and allergy may all have component causes that act early in life. Exposures in this period, which influence fetal growth, cell divisions, and organ functioning, may have long-lasting impact on health and disease susceptibility. METHODS: To investigate these issues the Danish National Birth Cohort (Better health for mother and child) was established. A large cohort of pregnant women with long-term follow-up of the offspring was the obvious choice because many of the exposures of interest cannot be reconstructed with sufficient validity back in time. The study needs to be large, and it is aimed to recruit 100,000 women early in pregnancy, and to continue follow-up for decades. The Nordic countries are better suited for this kind of research than most other countries because of their population-based registers on diseases, demography and social conditions, linkable at the individual level by means of the unique ID-number given to all citizens. Exposure information is mainly collected by computer-assisted telephone interviews with the women twice during pregnancy and when their children are six and 18 months old. Participants are also asked to fill in a self-administered food frequency questionnaire in mid-pregnancy. Furthermore, a biological bank has been set up with blood taken from the mother twice during pregnancy and blood from the umbilical cord taken shortly after birth. Data collection started in 1996 and the project covered all regions in Denmark in 1999. By August 2000. a total of 60,000 pregnant women had been recruited to the study. It is expected that a large number of gene-environmental hypotheses need to be based on case-control analyses within a cohort like this.

A continuous decline in menarcheal age in Denmark.

We report a renewed decline in mean menarcheal age in a large Danish sample after a period with a halt in the trend towards earlier age at menarche in many North European countries. In our study based on retrospective data from six different samples constituting 42784 women, we find a continuously declining mean menarcheal age in Denmark among women born in the years 1964-1973. In a sample of textile workers born in the years 1939-1968 (n = 12605) we find a 1 year higher mean menarcheal age. This indicates that menarcheal age is still delayed in certain groups in Denmark. This leaves the possibility that the menarcheal age could fall even further in the future.