Longitudinal Indian Family Health (LIFE)

The Longitudinal Indian Family Health (LIFE) is a long-term research study that will examine socio-economic and environmental influences on children’s health and development in India. The main aim of the study is to understand the link between the environmental conditions in which Indian women conceive, go through their pregnancy and give birth, and their physical and mental health during this period.

The cohort comprises married women between 15 and 35 years of age (mean 22 years), recruited before pregnancy or in the first trimester of pregnancy, from 2009 to 2011. These CHVs focus on women in the village to ascertain pregnancy (by interview) and to educate and encourage the women to seek regular antenatal care and other health care services. REACH has enumerated all household members in these communities and mapped each dwelling by a geographical information system (GIS). During each visit, CHVs conduct interviews to collect and update information on demography and pregnancy. Since 2004, CHVs have been collecting data on infant deaths and birthweights in the population. Socio-demographic variables such as access to electricity, means of transportation and possession of audio-visual devices were collected from REACH database