Vellore Birth Cohort (VBC)

The “Vellore Birth Cohort (VBC)” was established during 1969-73 in Vellore, South India and is one of the earliest and largest birth cohorts set up in India. Since its inception the VBC team have been actively monitoring the cohort participant’s health at various stages of life such as birth, infancy, childhood, adolescence and adulthood.

The early research focus was on maternal health and pregnancy outcomes which involved health of pregnant women and their new born babies. Subsequently, the birth cohort branched out to study the developmental origins of adult disease (DOHaD), on a background that the lifespan of an individual and adult risk of disease is partly determined by the mother’s environment in which the foetus is exposed and the early growth of the new born baby.

We believe that nutrition of mother during pregnancy, lower birth weight and poor childhood growth are important determinants of adult disease. Therefore, the VBC is set up to serve as an important bio-resource to study the impact of early growth in relation to adult onset chronic diseases particularly type 2 diabetes and heart disease in Asian Indians.

Funding