MatCH (Mothers and their Children’s Health) Profile: offspring of the 1973-78 cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health

Authors

  • Gita Devi Mishra Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland
  • Katrina Moss Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland
  • Colleen Loos Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland
  • Annette Jane Dobson Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland
  • Peter S Davies Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland
  • Deborah Loxton Faculty of Health and Medicine, The University of Newcastle
  • Kylie D Hesketh Faculty of Health, Deakin University
  • Ilona Koupil Stockholm University/Karolinska Institutet
  • Carol Bower Telethon Kids Institute
  • Peter Sly Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland
  • Leigh Tooth Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1569-934X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14301/llcs.v9i3.491

Keywords:

Maternal health, child health, health service use, intergenerational effects, social determinants, environmental factors

Abstract

MatCH (Mothers and their Children’s Health) is a nationwide Australian study to investigate the links between the history of health, wellbeing and living conditions of mothers and the health and development of their children. MatCH builds on the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (ALSWH), which began in 1996 and has surveyed more than 58,000 women in four nationally representative age cohorts. MatCH focuses on the three youngest offspring of the cohort of ALSWH participants randomly sampled from all women in Australia born in 1973–78 (N=5780 children of N=3039 mothers). These women, who had completed up to seven postal or online surveys since 1996, were invited in 2016–17 to complete surveys about the health and development of their three youngest children aged under 13. The mothers reported on their children’s health conditions and symptoms, diet, anthropometric measures, childcare, screen time, physical activity, temperament, behaviour, language development, motor development and health service utilisation, as well as household and environmental factors. These data are being linked with each child’s records from official sources including the Australian Early Development Census (collected at age five to six), the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (collected at age eight, 10, 12 and 14) and other external datasets. MatCH will combine 20 years of maternal data with all the information on her children, taking into account the family setting. MatCH offers an unprecedented opportunity to advance our understanding of the relationship between maternal health and wellbeing and child health and development. 

Author Biographies

Gita Devi Mishra, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland

Professor of Life course Epidemiology and Director, Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health, Centre for Longitudinal and Life Course Research, School of Public Health

Katrina Moss, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Longitudinal and Life Course Research, School of Public Health

Colleen Loos, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland

Project Coordinator, Centre for Longitudinal and Life Course Research, School of Public Health

Annette Jane Dobson, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland

Professor of Biostatistics, Centre for Longitudinal and Life Course Research, School of Public Health

Peter S Davies, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland

Professor and Director of the Children's Nutrition Research Centre (CNRC), School of Medicine

Deborah Loxton, Faculty of Health and Medicine, The University of Newcastle

Co-director, Research Centre for Generational Health and Ageing, and Deputy Director, Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health, Research Centre for Generational Health and Ageing 

Kylie D Hesketh, Faculty of Health, Deakin University

Australian Research Council Future Fellow, School of Exercise and Nutrition Science

Ilona Koupil, Stockholm University/Karolinska Institutet

Professor of Health Equity Studies, Centre for Health Equity Studies at Stockholm University/Karolinska Institutetand Visiting Professor in Social Epidemiology at the Department of Public Health Sciences at Karolinska Institutet

Carol Bower, Telethon Kids Institute

Senior Principal Research Fello

Peter Sly, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland

Professor, Child Health Research Centre

Leigh Tooth, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland

Principal Research Fellow and Deputy Director, Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health, Centre for Longitudinal and Life Course Research

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Published

2018-07-25