The 2015 cohort is a follow-up study of all children born in the city of Pelotas (RS) between January 1 and December 31, 2015. The study is scheduled in stages to monitor health, physical and cognitive development, and socioeconomic status of the participants throughout the life, from the gestational period.

This is the fourth generation to be followed up under the Pelotas Birth Cohort Program - the largest study of its kind in Latin America and one of the largest in the world. The first cohort covers all those born in 1982 in Pelotas (5,914 people), the second involves all those born in 1993 (5,249 people), and the third cohort, all born in the city in 2004 (4,231 people).

The 2015 cohort is the first to start monitoring from the gestational period. This is because the previous cohorts point to the impact of the factors during gestation and the first years of life on health from childhood to adulthood. Among these factors, there are a series of biological, socioeconomic and health assistance characteristics evaluated at each stage of the study.

Carrying out periodical exams and interviews with the same people from four generations at different stages of the lifecycle provides a singular opportunity to advance knowledge about the determinants of health during life. More than the identification of health risk factors, the results point to prevention and treatment strategies.

These strategies are at the basis of public policies adopted in Brazil and in the world in areas such as breastfeeding, prevention of maternal and infant mortality, mother and child nutrition, physical activity, prevention of chronic diseases and human capital development, contributing to improve adult and child health in more than 190 countries related to the World Health Organization.