EPIPAGE 2

Epipage 2 is a national study to better understand the future of premature infants.

• Launched in 2011
• 5,600 living children born before 35 weeks of amenorrhea (WA): extreme premature babies (22-26 WA), very premature babies (27-31 SA), premature babies (32-34 WA)
• Followed from birth to adolescence

The study Epipage 2 follows on from the Epipage 1 study, conducted on all very premature babies born in 9 regions of France in 1997, by the same research team.

Since 1997, the situation has changed. Premature infants are more numerous, their survival has improved and practices in obstetrics and neonatology have evolved. It was therefore essential to know, 15 years after EPIPAGE 1, how the prognosis in such children had evolved, beyond the first weeks of life.

The work carried out around these children provides original information on their long-term future, in view of the progress made in recent years. Such work is a valuable aid to medical teams in the care and follow-up of children and will enable families to be better informed.

This study provides answers to many questions concerning extreme prematurity:

• Improving knowledge on the causes of prematurity
• Evaluating the effects of the organization of care and medical practices on the health and development of premature infants
• Better understanding the future of very premature children and determining the specific care needs during childhood
• To study in a comprehensive, multidisciplinary manner the major issues of health, development and socialization of such children in the medium and long term.

The Epipage 2 cohort is coordinated by Pierre-Yves Ancel.

The Epipage 2 cohort is associated with the ELFE (French Longitudinal Study since Childhood) cohort as part of the RECONAI (Research Platform on Cohorts of Children Followed from Birth) project, a research platform on cohorts of children followed from birth to be able to study in a comprehensive, multidisciplinary manner the major dimensions of the health, development, and socialization of children.  This platform was authorized by Council of State Decree No. 2016-888 of June 29, 2016 on the creation of an automated processing of personal data called the “RECONAI Platform”.

As part of this project, the two cohorts have, since their start in 2011, pooled a certain number of collection objectives and tools. Since the age of 9, the organization of the follow-up stages has been entirely pooled (identical methods for informing families, organization of surveys and data collection using common questionnaires) even if certain questions or methods remain adapted to the situation of premature infants. 

The Epipage 2 cohort has received financial support from the Public Health Research Institute/Public Health Thematic Institute of Inserm (National Institute of Health and Medical Research) and its funding partners (Ministry of Health and Sports, Ministry for Research, National Cancer Institute and National Solidarity Fund for Autonomy).

• Milestones of the Epipage 2 survey
• Presentation of the Epipage 2 study
• Participation in the SAPRIS project (FR), which provides an understanding of the main epidemiological and social issues of the SARS-CoV2 epidemic and the measures taken to combat it.
• Complementary projects conducted as part of the Epipage 2 cohort

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