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. 2018 Jul 27;84(2):239–249. doi: 10.29024/aogh.911

Table 2.

Quality assessment of the cohort studies (adapted from the Newcastle-Ottawa scale). The stars are obtained if the criterion written in italics is met.

Selection of the study groups
  1. Representativeness of the exposed cohort:
    1. Locally representative of pregnant women.
    2. Group of pregnant women with specific characteristics (ex. Women with low socioeconomic status, African-American women).
    3. Without description of the selection.
  2. Selection of the unexposed cohort:
    1. It comes from the same community as the exposed cohort (they share the same risk of being exposed to environmental contaminants during pregnancy).
    2. It comes from a different source.
  3. Exposure assessment:
    1. Two or more measurements taken during pregnancy.
    2. Single measurement during pregnancy.
    3. Without description.
Comparability of the groups
  1. Comparability between groups exposed/not exposed in the design or analysis
    1. It was controlled by characteristics of the mother in the statistical analysis.
    2. It was controlled by characteristics of the child in the statistical analysis.
    3. It was controlled by other environmental exposures in the statistical analysis.
    4. It was controlled by concurrent environmental exposures in the preschool age.
Outcome
  1. Outcome assessment:
    1. Measurement performed directly by personnel standardized in anthropometric methods and/or biochemical tests.
    2. Reliable sources independent of the study (medical records).
    3. Follow up questionnaire (self-report).
  2. The follow-up time was sufficient for outcome to occur:
    1. Yes (the age of evaluation in children is >4 years).
    2. No (the age of evaluation in children is <4 years).
  3. Proportion of the original cohort analyzed
    1. The entire cohort was analyzed.
    2. >80% of the original cohort was analyzed and/or was described the comparative analysis that proves that the study population is not different from the rest of the cohort.
    3. <80% of the original cohort was analyzed.
    4. Without information.