Welcome …

Please use Chrome or Firefox for best interaction with this site.

IDEFICS/I.Family follow-up study – lifestyle and health

From 2007 to 2016 more than 16,000 participants from 9 European countries participated in the IDEFICS/I.Family study. Families contributed to these large studies and provided important insights for health research. Now we invite the children who participated previously to take part in this follow-up study. The aim of the study is to find out whether their lifestyle has changed in the past years and if the lifestyle might have had an impact on their well-being, health and risk of disease. From our previous studies we already know that lifestyle habits e.g. physical activity or dietary behaviour influence children’s and adolescent’s health. Meanwhile, the participants of the IDEFICS/ I.Family studies are adolescents or adults and enter in a new phase of life.
For many young people, this means moving to another school or starting an apprenticeship. It is also a time when young people develop their own lifestyle that can affect their future health.
We want to further explore the health and lifestyle of young people who have participated in the IDEFICS/I.Family studies. What has changed in recent years? How do these young people live? How healthy are they? The answers will help us to understand how lifestyle changes from childhood to young adulthood affect health and how to prevent certain diseases.

What does participation include?
The study consists of a set of questions on eating and sleeping behavior, physical activity, well-being, media use, health condition and medication. We also ask about height and weight. Answering the questionnaire takes about 45 minutes and participants can complete it online (via the study website) or as a paper version.

What are the benefits in participating?
Participants will remain part of our large international IDEFICS/ I.Family community and we will keep them informed about the most recent IDEFICS/I.Family research findings. Upon request we provide hints on where they stand with personal habits and where improvement might be possible.

But most of all, participants make an important contribution to improving the health of young people and developing specific measures to prevent diseases.

Participation in this study is voluntary. There are no disadvantages for the invited individuals or their family if they do not participate. Decision to participate can be changed at any time without having to give a reason for this.

For more information please visit the website of the follow-up study

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 266044.  

Last modified: May 8, 2020