Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC)

Based at the University of Bristol, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), also known as Children of the 90s, is a world-leading birth cohort study.

Between April 1991 and December 1992 we recruited more than 14,000 pregnant women into the study and these women (some of whom had two pregnancies or multiple births during the recruitment period), the children arising from the pregnancy, and their partners have been followed up intensively for more than two decades. Some of the original children now also have children of their own, and we are also following these pregnancies, births and babies (the Children of the Children of the 90s).

We are the most detailed study of its kind in the world and we provide the international research community with a rich resource for the study of the environmental and genetic factors that affect a person’s health and development. Through our research we aim to inform policy and practices that will provide a better life for future generations.

This Gateway publishes data notes on Wellcome Open Research that describe ALSPAC datasets. It also publishes full research articles authored by Wellcome funded researchers who have use ALSPAC data in their studies.

To find out more about the ALSPAC-Wellcome Open Research pilot which aims to make data more accessible and enable the wider research community to reuse ALSPAC datasets, please see this blog.