Methods
Design
COPSAC2000 is a single-center, prospective clinical mother-child cohort study of 411 children born between August 1998 and December 2001 to mothers with a history of asthma11–13. The children were closely monitored from birth till age 12 years with 19 planned visits to the clinic (age 2 weeks, 1, 3, and 6 months and 1, 1½, 2, 2½, 3, 3½, 4, 4½, 5, 5½, 6, 6½, 7, 9 and 12 years), where the children were seen by a COPSAC research physician with dermatology training. Additional acute care visits were arranged upon onset of any asthma-, allergy-, or AD-related flare ups. Atopic disorders were diagnosed and monitored at these visits by the COPSAC physicians according to standard operating procedures.
Ethics
The Copenhagen Ethics Committee (KF 01-289/96) and The Danish Data Protection Agency (2008-41-2434) approved the study, and oral and written informed consent was obtained from both parents at enrolment.