PCORnet Antibiotics and Childhood Growth Study: Process for Cohort Creation and Cohort Description

Objectives: The National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network (PCORnet) supports observational and clinical research using health care data. The PCORnet Antibiotics and Childhood Growth Study is one of PCORnet's inaugural observational studies. We sought to describe the processes used to integrate and analyze data from children across 35 participating institutions, the cohort characteristics, and prevalence of antibiotic use. Methods: We included children in the cohort if they had at least one same-day height and weight measured in each of 3 age periods: 1) before 12 months, 2) 12 to 30 months, and 3) after 24 months. We distributed statistical queries that each institution ran on its local version of the PCORnet Common Data Model, with aggregate data returned for analysis. We defined overweight or obesity as age- and sex-specific body mass index ≥85th percentile, obesity ≥95th percentile, and severe obesity ≥120% of the 95th percentile. Results: A total of 681,739 children met the cohort inclusion criteria, and participants were racially/ethnically diverse (24.9% black, 17.5% Hispanic). Before 24 months of age, 55.2% of children received at least one antibiotic prescription; 21.3% received a single antibiotic prescription; 14.3% received 4 or more; and 33.3% received a broad-spectrum antibiotic. Overweight and obesity prevalence was 27.6% at age 4 to <6 years (n = 362,044) and 36.2% at 9 to <11 years (n = 58,344). Conclusions: The PCORnet Antibiotics and Childhood Growth Study is a large national longitudinal observational study in a diverse population that will examine the relationship between early antibiotic use and subsequent growth patterns in children.