Cohort Profile: The Isle Of Wight Whole Population Birth Cohort (IOWBC)

Abstract

By the late 1980s, it was clear that allergic diseases, including asthma, eczema, allergic rhinitis and food allergy, had been increasing in recent decades, but the extent of this increase and true prevalence in an unselected population had not been estimated. It was also known that allergic diseases may remit and relapse. So one disease may improve as the child grows, but another may take its place; this pattern was termed 'atopic or allergic march'. However, the extent and the true nature of this transition were not clear. Additionally, little was known why allergic diseases are increasing, and even less about why allergic disease often remits as the child grows but sometimes relapses in adolescent or adult life. We therefore established the Isle of Wight Birth Cohort (IOWBC) 28 years ago, in January 1989.