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. 2021 Apr 16;13(4):687.
doi: 10.3390/v13040687.

Zika Brazilian Cohorts (ZBC) Consortium: Protocol for an Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis of Congenital Zika Syndrome after Maternal Exposure during Pregnancy

Maria das Graças Costa Alecrim  1 , Melania Maria Ramos de Amorim  2   3 , Thalia Velho Barreto de Araújo  4 , Patrícia Brasil  5 , Elizabeth B Brickley  6 , Marcia da Costa Castilho  1 , Bernadete Perez Coelho  7 , Antônio José Ledo Alves da Cunha  8 , Geraldo Duarte  9 , Cássia Fernanda Estofolete  10 , Ricardo Queiroz Gurgel  11 , Juliana Herrero-Silva  12 , Cristina Barroso Hofer  8 , Aline Siqueira Alves Lopes  11 , Celina Maria Turchi Martelli  13 , Adriana Suely de Oliveira Melo  2   14 , Demócrito de Barros Miranda-Filho  15 , Ulisses Ramos Montarroyos  16 , Maria Elisabeth Moreira  17 , Marisa Marcia Mussi-Pinhata  9 , Consuelo Silva de Oliveira  18 , Saulo Duarte Passos  19 , Arnaldo Prata-Barbosa  20 , Darci Neves Dos Santos  21 , Lavínia Schuler-Faccini  22 , Antônio Augusto Moura da Silva  23 , Isadora Cristina de Siqueira  24 , Patrícia da Silva Sousa  25 , Marília Dalva Turchi  26 , Ricardo Arraes de Alencar Ximenes  15   27 , Ana Laura de Sene Amâncio Zara  26 , Zika Brazilian Cohorts Consortium Zbc-Consortium
Affiliations

Zika Brazilian Cohorts (ZBC) Consortium: Protocol for an Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis of Congenital Zika Syndrome after Maternal Exposure during Pregnancy

Maria das Graças Costa Alecrim et al. Viruses. .

Abstract

Despite great advances in our knowledge of the consequences of Zika virus to human health, many questions remain unanswered, and results are often inconsistent. The small sample size of individual studies has limited inference about the spectrum of congenital Zika manifestations and the prognosis of affected children. The Brazilian Zika Cohorts Consortium addresses these limitations by bringing together and harmonizing epidemiological data from a series of prospective cohort studies of pregnant women with rash and of children with microcephaly and/or other manifestations of congenital Zika. The objective is to estimate the absolute risk of congenital Zika manifestations and to characterize the full spectrum and natural history of the manifestations of congenital Zika in children with and without microcephaly. This protocol describes the assembly of the Consortium and protocol for the Individual Participant Data Meta-analyses (IPD Meta-analyses). The findings will address knowledge gaps and inform public policies related to Zika virus. The large harmonized dataset and joint analyses will facilitate more precise estimates of the absolute risk of congenital Zika manifestations among Zika virus-infected pregnancies and more complete descriptions of its full spectrum, including rare manifestations. It will enable sensitivity analyses using different definitions of exposure and outcomes, and the investigation of the sources of heterogeneity between studies and regions.

Keywords: IPD meta-analysis; Zika; cohort; congenital Zika syndrome; microcephaly; pregnant women.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Municipalities with Brazilian cohorts of pregnant women and cohorts of children, participating in the ZBC Consortium.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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