Our latest Study Spotlight features a guest blog from our partner study Born in Bradford on how it has evolved since starting as a single birth cohort and the study’s new ‘Age of Wonder’ project.
Born in Bradford (BiB) is an applied research programme based in Bradford, one of the largest cities in the north of England. We aim to understand how to keep families healthy and happy, and, crucially, to use this information to develop and evaluate new interventions and policy that can improve outcomes for communities.
Why Bradford?
Bradford is an ethnically diverse and vibrant city, with a population of over 546,000. Just over a quarter of the population are under 18 years old, making us one of the youngest cities in the UK. Like many urban areas, Bradford faces some challenges. A third of the population live in the most deprived deciles in England and Wales. Alongside health inequalities, there are also entrenched spatial injustices, which see poorer areas bearing the brunt of environmental stressors such as pollution, noise, and lack of green spaces.
Where it all began
Born in Bradford started life as a birth cohort study in 2007. Between 2007-2011, we recruited 12,453 women with 13,776 pregnancies and 3,448 partners. At the time of recruitment, half of the cohort were of South Asian heritage, and 68% of children lived in the most deprived quintile of neighbourhoods in England and Wales. It’s the level of ethnic diversity that makes our cohort particularly unique.
Since our original cohort, we have grown. We now host three birth cohorts—our original Born in Bradford cohort, our younger Born in Bradford’s Better Start—the world’s first experimental cohort dedicated to understanding how best to intervene in early life to improve health outcomes—and BiB4All —a routine data linkage cohort where consent is embedded into clinical practice. Over 60,000 Bradfordians are actively involved in our studies. Our model for routine data linkage has expanded into the Born and Bred in (BaBi) network of local electronic birth cohort studies, which has been rolled out across eight UK sites (and counting).
Born in Bradford Age of Wonder
Our new project, Born in Bradford Age of Wonder, aims to include all young people in Bradford and follow their journey from adolescence into young adulthood. This is not just a research project; Age of Wonder aims to inspire and engage young people in science and technology and grow the next generation of researchers.
We are proud to be a ‘people-powered’ research programme. We strive to champion research for groups who are often seldom heard. Co-production and community engagement is at the heart of our approach. Using a ‘city collaboratory’ model, we connect communities with researchers and stakeholders to set research priorities and co-produce our research plans. Our regular BiB Festival attracts hundreds of visitors, and we have a yearly BBC Radio 4 programme which has charted our progress since inception.
Impact on policy and practice
Born in Bradford has led directly to over £100 million investment in child health interventions in the city, including £49 million for Better Start Bradford, £16 million for the Bradford Opportunity Area, £9 million for the Sport England local delivery pilot (JU:MP), £3 million for the Arts Council England LEAP and Digital Creatives projects and £40 million for the Bradford Clean Air Zone. These investments take a systems approach and tackle wider determinants to prevent ill-health. The evaluation that is embedded into each of these new investments will provide decision makers with better evidence about how best to improve population health.
Alongside this, we have directly contributed to service and policy change in the city, including influencing mental health services to detect and treat autism and services for perinatal mental health, working with community partners to promote youth resilience and reduce crime, helping to shape the school admission policy in Bradford, and developing approaches to obesity prevention within mosque and madrassas.
Discover the data
Since baseline, repeat assessments have been conducted on sub-samples, including a focus on obesity (with repeat data collection for 1,763 children at 6 months old, 12 months, 18 months, 2 years, and 3 years), allergies and infections (2,594 children at 12 months, 2 years, and 4 years), and cognitive development (3,444 children at 5 years). Our most recent data collection, taken when children were aged 6-11 years, has recently been released and includes 5,318 mothers, 9,805 BiB children, and 838 fathers and partners. We also have data available on 10,201 non-BiB children who participated in our BiB Primary School Years project.
Routine health data linkage is available for 98% of participants, with education data linked for 85% of children. Stored bio-samples include pregnancy blood (N = 11,625) and urine (N = 6,996), and cord-blood (N = 9,303). Exome sequencing is available for 10,531 mothers, and 9,158 children, and metabolomics available from 11,479 pregnancy samples, 7,890 cord-bloods and 2,108 children’s samples at age 2, and 2,624 children aged 6-11 years. Accelerometery data has been collected for 1,095 children.
Full details of data available can be found on our BiB Data Dictionary – Born in Bradford Data Dictionary
Researchers who wish to use our data can complete an expression of interest form.
Find out more about our work and approach
- Nothing about us without us: A co-production strategy for communities, researchers and stakeholders to identify ways of improving health and reducing inequalities
- Born in Bradford’s Age of Wonder cohort: protocol for adolescent data collection
- Born in Bradford’s Better Start (BiBBS) interventional birth cohort study: Interim cohort profile
- People powered research: what do communities identify as important for happy and healthy children and young people? A multi-disciplinary community research priority setting exercise in the City of Bradford
Further information
This blog is part of our ‘Study Spotlight’ series. This series showcases the CLOSER partner studies, demonstrating how to make the most of these valuable assets through CLOSER’s research resources. Every month, we turn the spotlight on a new theme, producing a series of blogs that delve into the backgrounds of studies that share similar characteristics, such as their study sample, design, or topics of research interest.
‘Study Spotlight’ helps you gain a deeper understanding of the studies in our partnership and how you can better utilise these on your research journey.
Keep an eye out next month as we turn our Study Spotlight on the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England: Cohort 2
Previous Study Spotlight blogs:
- ALSPAC and the millennial generation (April 2023)
- Next Steps and the millennial generation (April 2023)
- ELSA and the ageing population (May 2023)
- Hertfordshire Cohort Study and the ageing population (May 2023)
- MRC NSHD and the ageing population (May 2023)
- MCS and the British birth cohorts (June 2023)
- BCS70 and the British birth cohorts (June 2023)
- NCDS and the British birth cohorts (June 2023)
- Understanding Society: The UK Household Longitudinal Study (July 2023)
- Growing Up in Scotland (September 2023)
- Generation Scotland (October 2023)
- Northern Ireland Cohort for the Longitudinal Study of Ageing (January 2024)
On Twitter? Follow #StudySpotlight to keep up to date with the series throughout the year.