Background: The incidence of many common chronic childhood conditions has increased globally in the past few decades, which has been suggested to be potentially attributed to antibiotic overuse leading to dysbiosis in the gut microbiome.
Objective: This linkage study will assess the role of antibiotic use in utero and in early life in the development of type 1 diabetes (T1D), attention-deficit/hyperactive disorder (ADHD), and inflammatory bowel disease.
Methods: The study design involves several retrospective cohort studies using linked administrative health and social data from Statistics New Zealand's Integrated Data Infrastructure. It uses data from all children who were born in New Zealand between October 2005 and December 2010 (N=334,204) and their mothers. Children's antibiotic use is identified for 4 time periods (at pregnancy, at ≤1 year, at ≤2 years, and at ≤5 years), and the development of T1D, ADHD, and inflammatory bowel disease is measured from the end of the antibiotic use periods until death, emigration, or the end of the follow-up period (2021), whichever came first. Children who emigrated or died before the end of the antibiotic use period are excluded. Cox proportional hazards regression models are used while adjusting for a range of potential confounders.
Results: As of September 2024, data linkage has been completed, involving the integration of antibiotic exposure and outcome variables for 315,789 children. Preliminary analyses show that both prenatal and early life antibiotic consumption is associated with T1D. Full analyses for all 3 outcomes will be completed by the end of 2025.
Conclusions: This series of linked cohort studies using detailed, complete, and systematically collected antibiotic prescription data will provide critical new knowledge regarding the role of antibiotics in the development of common chronic childhood conditions. Thus, this study has the potential to contribute to the development of primary prevention strategies through, for example, targeted changes in antibiotic use.
International registered report identifier (irrid): DERR1-10.2196/66184.
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.2196/58531.].
Background: Contactless monitoring of vital signs, especially the breathing of children, in the hospital is performed on a priority basis because their organs and immune system are immature. Therefore, continuous monitoring of their vital signs with a sensor that is directly attached to their body is not possible, as it irritates the sensitive newborn skin and causes discomfort. A contactless frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) radar-based device can wirelessly monitor the breathing rate and pattern of a child in the hospital or at home. Signal-processing capability can be added to this device to process breathing data and analyze the apnea condition arising due to irregular breathing patterns.
Objective: This study will develop a contactless FMCW radar-based system to accurately monitor the breathing rate and pattern of neonates and infants in hospitals and at home in order to provide a noninvasive, nonintrusive and contactless alternative to conventional sensor-based methods and address a critical need in neonatal care, potentially improving health outcomes for vulnerable infants.
Methods: The radar transmits a signal toward the body, and the time taken by the signal received to travel from the body to the receiving antenna is analyzed. This time is proportional to the distance between the radar and the body, and the breathing pattern is recognized as a slight, periodic variation in this distance. We will use this concept with multiple antenna systems to monitor the breathing of neonates with improved sensitivity. The radar-based device will be installed, in addition to conventional breathing monitors, in the neonatal intensive care unit. The signals received at the radar and the respiration signals from conventional monitors will be recorded in a database. Signal-processing techniques will be applied to extract breathing signals from the signals received at the radar.
Results: This study was funded in January 2023 by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) of India. The device was designed by May 2024, and a working proof-of concept was verified in the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Ropar laboratory. Implementation of the proposed method for initial study began in December 2024. Results are expected to be published in the first quarter of 2025.
Conclusions: The contactless FMCW radar-based system will provide reliable estimation of the breathing rate and pattern, which is close to the conventional reference device values most of the time. Our device will also provide a seamless breathing-monitoring system to be used both in hospitals and at home for newborns and premature babies until they are fully healthy and fit.
International registered report identifier (irrid): PRR1-10.2196/59532.