Growing Up Today Study

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The Growing Up Today Study (GUTS) is an ongoing collaborative research project between researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1996 in the United States, the study collects data annually from over 26,000 participants in order to evaluate the factors that influence weight change and health throughout the life cycle. The participants are children (females and males) of the women who enrolled as participants in the second cohort of the Nurses' Health Study. Established in 1976, the Nurses' Health Study has collected data from 238,000 nurse participants, making it one of the largest and longest running investigations of factors that influence women’s health and risk for disease. Combined, the Growing Up Today Study and the Nurses’ Health Study can be considered a cross-generational super-study, leading to new insights and landmark findings in the field of public health research.

Contents

Early Beginnings to Present

In 1996, at the start of the study, 16,882 children between the ages of 9 and 14 years old were enrolled in GUTS I. Eight years later, in 2004, the study expanded and a second cohort of 10,920 children between the ages of 10 and 17 were enrolled in GUTS II. Initially, the two separate cohorts were surveyed separately and biannually. Starting in 2013, the two cohorts joined as one (GUTS I & GUTS II), and are now surveyed annually. The participants are now all young adults, many of whom are starting families of their own — which could eventually lead to the possibility of a third generation of study participants and data collection.

Today, the Growing Up Today Study team includes doctors, researchers, and statisticians throughout the United States, and GUTS data is used by researchers across the globe. Major research topics include:

Nearly 100 research articles about health outcomes throughout a lifetime – from pregnancy and fertility to heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes—have been published as a result of their work and the continuous contributions of GUTS participants.

Selected findings

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References

  1. ↑ Field, AE; Camargo CA; Taylor CB; Berkey CS; Colditz GA (1999). "Relation of peer and media influences to the development of purging behaviors among preadolescent and adolescent girls". Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 153 (11): 1184–1189. doi:10.1001/archpedi.153.11.1184. PMID   10555723. S2CID   3833450.
  2. ↑ Berkey, CS; Rockett HR; Field AE; Gillman MW; Frazier AL; Camargo CA; Colditz GA (2000). "Activity, dietary intake, and weight changes in a longitudinal study of preadolescent and adolescent boys and girls". Pediatrics. 105 (4): e56. doi:10.1542/peds.105.4.e56. PMID   10742377. S2CID   8652660.
  3. ↑ Gillman, MW; Rifas-Shiman SL; Frazier AL; Rockett HR; Camargo CA; Field AE; Berkey CS; Colditz GA (2000). "Family dinner and diet quality among older children and adolescents". Arch Fam Med. 9. 9 (3): 235–40. doi:10.1001/archfami.9.3.235. PMID   10728109.
  4. ↑ Field, AE; Camargo CA; Taylor CB; Berkey CS; Roberts SB; Colditz GA (2001). "Peer, parent, and media influences on the development of weight concerns and frequent dieting among preadolescent and adolescent girls and boys". Pediatrics. 107 (1): 54–60. doi:10.1542/peds.107.1.54. PMID   11134434.
  5. ↑ Gillman, MW; Rifas-Shiman SL; Camargo CA; Berkey CS; Frazier AL; Rockett HRH; Field AE; Colditz GA (2001). "Risk of overweight among adolescents who had been breast fed as infants". JAMA. 285 (19): 2461–2467. doi:10.1001/jama.285.19.2461. PMID   11368698. S2CID   32169873.
  6. ↑ Geller, AC; Colditz GA; Oliveria S; Emmons K; Jorgenson C; Aweh GN; Frazier AL (2002). "Use of sunscreen, sunburning rates, and tanning bed use among more than 10 000 US children and adolescents". Pediatrics. 109 (6): 1009–1014. doi:10.1542/peds.109.6.1009. PMID   12042536.
  7. ↑ Berkey, CS; Rockett HR; Gillman MW; Colditz GA (2003). "One-year changes in activity and in inactivity among 10- to 15-year-old boys and girls: relationship to change in body mass index". Pediatrics. 111 (4): 836–843. doi:10.1542/peds.111.4.836. PMID   12671121.
  8. ↑ Field, AE; Austin SB; Taylor CB; Malspeis S; Rosner B; Rockett HR; Gillman MW; Colditz GA (2003). "The relation between dieting and weight change among preadolescents and adolescents". Pediatrics. 112 (4): 900–906. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.577.5085 . doi:10.1542/peds.112.4.900. PMID   14523184.
  9. ↑ Gillman, MW; Rifas-Shiman S; Berkey CS; Field AE; Colditz GA (2003). "Maternal diabetes, birth weight, and adolescent obesity". Pediatrics. 111 (3): 221–226. doi: 10.1542/peds.111.3.e221 . PMID   12612275.
  10. ↑ Berkey, CS; Rockett HR; Field AE; Gillman MW; Colditz GA (2004). "Sugar-added beverages and adolescent weight change". Obesity Research. 12 (5): 778–788. doi: 10.1038/oby.2004.94 . PMID   15166298.
  11. ↑ Roberts, AL; Chen, Y; Slopen, N; McLaughlin, KA; Koenen, KC; Austin, SB (Oct 2015). "Maternal experience of abuse in childhood and depressive symptoms in adolescent and adult offspring: A 21-year longitudinal study". Depress Anxiety. 32 (10): 709–719. doi:10.1002/da.22395. PMC   4591211 . PMID   26220852.
  12. ↑ Frazier, AL; Camargo, CA Jr.; Malspeis, S; Willett, WC; Young, MC (Feb 2014). "Prospective study of peripregnancy consumption of peanuts or tree nuts by mothers and the risk of peanut or tree nut allergy in their offspring". JAMA Pediatrics. 168 (2): 156–162. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2013.4139. PMID   24366539.
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