Thanks to the fantastic number of families continuing in the follow-up visits, we have been able to secure further funding for a new follow-up of the children born to families taking part in the NiPPeR study. We are now following up the NiPPeR children at ages 6-8.
The 6-8-year visit will genrally be conducted over two separate clinic visits. We hope we make it a fun and worthwhile experience for both the parents and child!
If you are a NiPPeR participant, your local team will be in contact with you to discuss the new visit when your child reaches the appropriate age. They will provide you with a detailed participant information sheet, alongside a child-friendly leaflet that you can read with your child.
The visit includes:
Body composition, including dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA)
The amounts of muscle, fat and bone in the body will be measured by the DXA scan machine. This uses a very low amount of X-rays to tell us how strong your child’s bones are.
Biosampling
Children are invited to provide samples, including urine, blood and stool, to give important further information about their health and wellbeing.
Thinking skills
We are asking children to play some fun games that test their brain power! Some of these are on an iPad and some are questions asked by the nurse or research assistant.
Physical activity
We want to find out whether your child is someone who often sits still or who moves around lots. Special wrist watches can tell us how active the child is. Our staff demonstrate how to wear it on the first visit and the child can then take it home for one week.
Allergy testing
A skin prick test on the child’s forearm checks for reaction to common allergens.
Skin tapes
Small sticky tapes are applied to the skin to collect a sample from the surface of the skin that will be analysed for several skin markers. This will allow us to examine the skin for various changes that may indicate risk for certain skin conditions such as eczema or later acne.
Feedback from the children
"I loved playing all the games on the tablet and really loved the game with the cubes. I got to take my picture of my bones into my class to show them, everyone thought it was really cool."
"I told my teacher and friends all about my trips to the hospital and they asked lots questions."
Further information
United Kingdom
Contact the UK study team at the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre in Southampton on 07468 758999 or nipper@mrc.soton.ac.uk
New Zealand
Contact the New Zealand team by emailing nipper@auckland.ac.nz
Singapore
Contact the Singapore team on 97386225 or nipper@nuhs.edu.sg