Viruses causing lower respiratory symptoms in young children: findings from the ORChID birth cohort

Sarna, Mohinder; Lambert, Stephen B; Sloots, Theo P; Whiley, David M; Alsaleh, Asma; Mhango, Lebogang; Bialasiewicz, Seweryn; Wang, David; Nissen, Michael D; Grimwood, Keith; Ware, Robert S

The Observational Research in Childhood Infectious Diseases (ORChID) project ( clinicaltrials. gov: NCT01304914) is an observational, longitudinal community-based birth cohort study of ARI episodes in children until their second birthday. 14 Participants were able to leave the study temporarily (such as during family holidays) and rejoin at a later date. It was conducted in the subtropical city of Brisbane, Australia (latitude 27° South, average monthly maximum temperature range 22°C-30°C, maximum rainfall in December-February, population 2.2 million) between September 2010 and October 2014. Parents consented antenatally for their child's participation. For enrolment, infants needed to be healthy, without congenital abnormalities or underlying chronic disorders, and to be born at term (36-42 weeks). Recruitment was progressive over 2 years at one of two metropolitan hospitals (one private and one government-funded). Detailed methods of recruitment, study design and sample and data collection are described elsewhere. 14 The Children's Health Queensland, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, and The University of Queensland Human Research Ethics Committees approved the study.