The GENEIDA (Genetics, Early Life Environmental Exposures and Infant Development in Andalucía) cohort was created in 2014 in the Poniente region (Almeria), one of the most important intensive agricultural areas in Spain, with the aim of expanding scientific knowledge on how exposures to environmental pollutants during the early stages of life, as well as other factors such as diet or lifestyle, can affect the health of mothers and their children.
This is a birth cohort of 800 mother-child pairs followed through pregnancy, birth and infancy to assess the role of these early exposures on the physical and intellectual development of children at different ages. Within the GENEIDA cohort, several research projects are being developed to characterise these exposures and their possible effects on reproductive and child health, especially on foetal growth and development and neurodevelopment. These projects also include the study of genetic and epigenetic factors and mechanisms associated with the exposures to these compounds and with the health effects observed in the cohort. Multiomic Sciences, with the development of studies on Metabolomics or Microbiota, also acquire a relevant role in the GENEIDA cohort given the high clinical and scientific interest of these areas of knowledge.
Coordinated from the Andalusian School of Public Health (Granada) with the support of health professionals and researchers from the Hospital de Poniente (Almeria), the University of Granada and GENYO (Genomics and Oncology Research Centre, Granada), the main objective of the GENEIDA cohort is to contribute to the protection of the health of pregnant women and children during childhood and adolescence based on the information generated by our research. To this end, we promote the exchange of health-relevant information with the mothers and children who are part of it, as well as with those institutions involved in the development of measures for the promotion of health and the prevention of exposures in these stages.