TARGet Kids!: Measuring Nutrition in Young Preschool Children in the Primary Care Practice Setting

Conditions

Development, Nutritional Disorders, Obesity

Brief summary

TARGet Kids! (The Applied Research Group for Kids) is a research study enrolling healthy children aged 0-5 years. The aim of the TARGet Kids! registry is to link early life exposures to health problems including obesity, micronutrient deficiencies, and developmental problems. TARGet Kids! represents an innovative collaboration between child health researchers and children's primary care doctors (pediatricians and family physicians) to promote research that really matters and create solutions to some of the today's biggest health concerns. The results of this collaborative research study are not only improving the quality of children's healthcare but also the health of children across the country. Coordinated by Sick Kids and St. Michael's Hospital with data management services by the Applied Health Research Centre (AHRC), TARGet Kids! is the only primary care research network for children in Canada.

Yulika Yoshida‐Montezuma, Charles Keown‐Stoneman, Joseph Jamnik, Brendan T. Smith, Roman Pabayo et al. (11 authors)

Scientific Reports2026-06-19

10.1038/s41598-026-57151-8

Center-Based Childcare in Early Childhood and Nutritional Risk in Later Childhood: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Kucab MD, Keown-Stoneman CD, Birken CS, Perlman M, Parsons J, D'Annunzio D, Thadani S, Allen CA, Maguire JL, TARGet Kids! Collaboration.

2025-09-27

10.1016/j.tjnut.2025.09.028

Developmental screening at 18 months using the Nipissing District Developmental Screen

Cornelia M Borkhoff, Haris Imsirovic, Imaan Bayoumi, Christine MacArthur, Kimberly M Nurse et al. (12 authors)

Paediatrics & Child Health2025-05-111 citations

10.1093/pch/pxaf023

Association Between Family Income and Positive Developmental Screening Using the Infant Toddler Checklist at the 18-Month Health Supervision Visit.

Nurse KM, Parkin PC, Keown-Stoneman CDG, Bayoumi I, Birken CS, Maguire JL, Macarthur C, Borkhoff CM.

2023-11-012 citations

10.1016/j.jpeds.2023.113769

Maternal Preconception Body Mass Index and Early Childhood Nutritional Risk.

Braddon KE, Keown-Stoneman CD, Dennis CL, Li X, Maguire JL, O'Connor DL, Omand JA, Simpson JR, Birken CS.

2023-06-244 citations

10.1016/j.tjnut.2023.06.022

Centre-based childcare in early childhood and growth in later childhood: a prospective cohort study.

Kucab MD, Keown-Stoneman CDG, Birken CS, Perlman M, Maguire JL, TARGet Kids! Collaboration.

2023-04-271 citations

10.1038/s41366-023-01316-2

Body Weight at Age Four Years and Readiness to Start School: A Prospective Cohort Study

Jessica Omand, Xuedi Li, Charles Keown‐Stoneman, Cornelia M. Borkhoff, Eric Duku et al. (100 authors)

Childhood Obesity2022-07-145 citations

10.1089/chi.2022.0018

Nutritional Risk in Early Childhood and School Readiness.

Omand JA, Janus M, Maguire JL, Parkin PC, Aglipay M, Randall Simpson J, Keown-Stoneman CDG, Duku E, Reid-Westoby C, Birken CS.

2021-12-018 citations

10.1093/jn/nxab307

Reference intervals for hemoglobin and mean corpuscular volume in an ethnically diverse community sample of Canadian children 2 to 36 months

Jemila S. Hamid, Eshetu G. Atenafu, Cornelia M. Borkhoff, Catherine S. Birken, Jonathon L. Maguire et al. (9 authors)

BMC Pediatrics2021-05-197 citations

10.1186/s12887-021-02709-w

Screening for marginal food security in young children in primary care.

Bayoumi I, Birken CS, Nurse KM, Parkin PC, Maguire JL, Macarthur C, Randall Simpson JA, Borkhoff CM.

2021-04-235 citations

10.1186/s12887-021-02674-4

Maternal ethnicity and iron status in early childhood in Toronto, Canada: a cross-sectional study

Vinusha Gunaseelan, Patricia C. Parkin, Gita Wahi, Catherine S. Birken, Jonathon L. Maguire et al. (7 authors)

BMJ Paediatrics Open2020-04-015 citations

10.1136/bmjpo-2020-000635

Association between Serum Ferritin and Cognitive Function in Early Childhood.

Parkin PC, Koroshegyi C, Mamak E, Borkhoff CM, Birken CS, Maguire JL, Thorpe KE, TARGet Kids! Collaboration.

2019-11-0219 citations

10.1016/j.jpeds.2019.09.051

Fit for School Study protocol: early child growth, health behaviours, nutrition, cardiometabolic risk and developmental determinants of a child’s school readiness, a prospective cohort

Catherine S. Birken, Jessica Omand, Kim M Nurse, Cornelia M. Borkhoff, Christine Koroshegyi et al. (14 authors)

BMJ Open2019-11-0115 citations

10.1136/bmjopen-2019-030709

A Positive Association Between Dietary Intake of Higher Cow's Milk-Fat Percentage and Non-High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol in Young Children.

Wong VCH, Maguire JL, Omand JA, Dai DWH, Lebovic G, Parkin PC, O'Connor DL, Birken CS, TARGet Kids! Collaboration.

2019-05-176 citations

10.1016/j.jpeds.2019.03.047

Higher Body Mass Index Is Associated with Iron Deficiency in Children 1 to 3 Years of Age.

Sypes EE, Parkin PC, Birken CS, Carsley S, MacArthur C, Maguire JL, Borkhoff CM, TARGet Kids! Collaboration.

2019-01-0717 citations

10.1016/j.jpeds.2018.11.035

Breastfeeding to 12 mo and beyond: nutrition outcomes at 3 to 5 y of age.

Borkhoff CM, Dai DWH, Jairam JA, Wong PD, Cox KA, Maguire JL, Birken CS, Macarthur C, Parkin PC, TARGet Kids! Collaboration.

2018-08-0113 citations

10.1093/ajcn/nqy124

Breastfeeding duration, maternal body mass index, and birth weight are associated with differences in body mass index growth trajectories in early childhood.

Eny KM, Chen S, Anderson LN, Chen Y, Lebovic G, Pullenayegum E, Parkin PC, Maguire JL, Birken CS, TARGet Kids! Collaboration.

2018-04-0134 citations

10.1093/ajcn/nqx081

Misclassification of child body mass index from cut-points defined by rounded percentiles instead of Z-scores

Laura N. Anderson, Sarah Carsley, Gerald Lebovic, Cornelia M. Borkhoff, Jonathon L. Maguire et al. (7 authors)

BMC Research Notes2017-11-2864 citations

10.1186/s13104-017-2983-0

Relation between milk-fat percentage, vitamin D, and BMI z score in early childhood.

Vanderhout SM, Birken CS, Parkin PC, Lebovic G, Chen Y, O'Connor DL, Maguire JL, TARGet Kids! Collaboration.

2016-11-1617 citations

10.3945/ajcn.116.139675

Interventions

None listed

Study design

Observational model

COHORT

Time perspective

PROSPECTIVE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

No minimum to 5 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Birth to less than 6 years of age * Parental consent * Attending a TARGet Kids! research network practice

Exclusion criteria

* Chronic illness with the exception of asthma

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Body Mass Index (BMI)	10 years (yearly measurements)	Change in BMI over a 10 year follow-up period

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Development	Yearly measurements	Child development
Mental Health	Yearly measurements	Mental Health
Lifestyle Factors	Yearly measurements	Assessment of Lifestyle Factors that contribute to health
Nutrition	Yearly measurements	Nutritional risk
Social Determinants	Yearly measurements	Social determinants of health
Education	Yearly measurements	Nutritional factors affects on education
Parenting	Yearly measurements	Parenting styles
Child Behavior	Yearly measurements	Child behavior

Countries

Canada

Contacts

Primary ContactCatherine Birken, MD, M.Sc., FRCPC

catherine.birken@sickkids.ca416-813-7654

Backup ContactDalah Mason, MPH

dalah.mason@sickkids.ca416-813-7654

Outcome results