Research at the Department of Child Psychiatry

-

FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study was launched at the University of Turku in 2010, and its purpose is to investigate the influences of environmental and genetic factors on child development and later health outcomes. The project focuses on the role of stress during pregnancy and early life in the programming of later health and disease. Long-term outcomes of special interest are stress-related psychiatric disorders, such as depression, anxiety and cognitive performance or decline and other relevant public health conditions, such as recurrent infections, obesity, atopic diseases and asthma. Multimodal brain imaging in combination with neuropsychological performance and speech and language development  is one of the unique features of the project. The FinnBrain project is also focusing on resilience and the investigation of protecting factors. The follow-up of the children will continue for several decades. The research approach is inherently multidisciplinary and the project has extensive local, national and international collaboration in various domains. The participants are families (n=3808 at baseline) from the city of Turku, municipalities in Turku area, and Åland Islands.