Drakenstein Child Health Study (DCHS)
DCHS is a longitudinal birth cohort study of over 1,000 mother-child pairs in Drakenstein; a peri-urban district outside Cape Town, South Africa. The cohort includes 1,137 pregnant women who were enrolled during their second trimester (20-28 weeks’ gestation) from two public health clinics in Drakenstein between March 2012 and March 2015. Mothers were followed during pregnancy and childbirth, and a total of 1,143 children were born into the cohort; four mothers had twins and one had triplets. Following birth, the cohort were followed-up until the children were at least 5 years old.
Study design
Cohort - birth, Cohort - primary caregiver and child
Number of participants at first data collection
1,137 (mothers)
1,143 (children)
Age at first data collection
≥ 18 years (mothers)
Birth (children)
Participant year of birth
Varied (mothers)
2012 - 2015 (children)
Participant sex
All
Representative sample at baseline?
The population of Drakenstein, South Africa.
Sample features
Country
Year of first data collection
2012
Primary Institutions
University of Cape Town (iYunivesithi yaseKapa, Universiteit van Kaapstad, UCT)
Profile paper DOI
Funders
Allergy Society of South Africa (ALLSA)
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Carnegie Corporation
Discovery Foundation
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Ongoing?
No
Data types collected
- Computer, paper or task testing (e.g. cognitive testing, theory of mind doll task, attention computer tasks)
- Physical environment assessment (e.g. pollution, mould)
- Physical or biological assessment (e.g. blood, saliva, gait, grip strength, anthropometry)
- Secondary data
- None
- Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI)
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
- Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS)
- Healthcare data
Engagement
Keywords
Consortia and dataset groups
