This is a prospective cohort study of children born between 22 and 31 weeks of completed gestational weeks () in 19 regions of Europe (11 countries) whose objective is to improve the survival and long-term health of the premature babies by ensuring that medical knowledge is translated into effective perinatal care.

In France, Ile de France, Burgundy and Nord Pas de Calais regions participated in this project, including the children also participating in the EPIPAGE2 study. The recruitment of children took place in 2011-2012. These children were followed at the age of 2 (4425 children) and then at the age of 5 and a half (3674 children).

To learn more : https://recap-preterm.eu

The RECAP-Preterm project, funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, has as its objective to improve the health, development, and quality of life of children and adults born very preterm (before 32 weeks of gestational age) or with a very low birth weight (less than 1500 g). This project set up a platform enabling the assembly, harmonization, and use of data from 23 European cohort studies of children and adults born very preterm in 13 European countries. In the longer term, our ambition is to enrich this platform with data from cohorts in other countries, outside Europe.

 What research topics will this study consider?

One of the priority objectives of this project is to understand better the factors that can influence the health and development of children born preterm. These diverse factors cover: 

• the different types of medical management (which we have talked to you about in preceding newsletters): our objective is to pinpoint them more effectively to be able to apply them more widely throughout Europe,
• the different educational policies implemented, and
• families' social environment. The cohorts of adults born preterm will also enable us to assess their capacity for social integration and their well-being. Finally, we consider it important to assess the impact of these very preterm births on the health and well-being of the parents.

The RECAP Preterm project in France
Three French cohorts are involved in this project: Epipage 1, Epipage 2 and the European cohort Epice/Ships.
This project is conducted under the legal responsibility of Inserm and under the scientific responsibility of Pr Pierre-Yves Ancel -PUPH, director of the EPOPé team, Inserm UMR 1153 and in charge of the Epipage 2 cohort) and Dr Jennifer Zeitlin (Research Director, EPOPé Team, Inserm UMR 1153).

What does this new collaboration mean for you?

This new project does not involve any collection of supplementary data about your children. No exchanges of individual data between countries is planned. Each country is analyzing its own data. These are global results (percentages and means) that are first pooled and then reanalyzed in relation to the topics described above.

The re-use of this data is done in France, under the responsibility of Inserm and the EPOPé team.
No exchange of individual data is planned between countries. Each country carries out the analysis of its own data. Only the global results (percentages, averages) are pooled and then re-analyzed to answer the above-mentioned themes.

We will keep you regularly informed about the research projects conducted and their results. We remind you that if you no longer want your data to be used for these studies, you can tell us so at any time by sending us an email.

 Research projects implemented with the RECAP Project

• The 3E project (Andrei Morgan, Jenifer Zeitlin)
  The 3E project, that is, the EPICure-EPIPAGE-EXPRESS comparative research collaboration, is the first collaborative project to be conducted as part of the RECAP Preterm project.
  Its objective is to study the effect of different types of perinatal management of extremely preterm infants (born between 22 and 26 weeks of gestation) on their survival and development at the ages of 2 and 5 years. The information collected in Epipage 2 is currently being analyzed with the data from two other cohorts, similar to Epipage but conducted in countries with different practices in the management of extremely preterm births: the EPICure (United Kingdom) cohort (www.epicure.ac.uk) and the EXPRESS cohort (Sweden) (https://express-study.se).
  
• Maternal Education and Cognitive Development of Very Premature Infants: A meta-analysis of 15 European cohorts. (Mariane Sentenac, Jennifer Zeitlin)
  The objective of this work is to investigate the association between the level of maternal education and cognitive outcomes in children born very prematurely and whether it is modified according to the country of residence, the age of the child and the degree of prematurity. Analysis in progress.

• Publications

Priorities for collaborative research using very preterm birth cohorts.
Zeitlin J, Sentenac M, Morgan AS, Ancel PY, Barros H, Cuttini M, Draper E, Johnson S, Lebeer J, Maier RF, Norman M, Varendi H; RECAP Preterm child cohort research group. Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed. 2020 Sep;105(5):538-544. doi: 10.1136/archdischild-2019-317991. Epub 2020 Feb 6.