Survey description

At ages 8-10, three different surveys were conducted among the children in the Elfe cohort.

Documentation is available for these surveys, but access to the data is currently reserved for researchers who are members of the thematic groups.

The 9.5-year Survey: COVID-19

In March 2020, the Elfe UMS joined the SAPRIS surveys (« SAnté, Perception, Pratiques, Relations et Inégalités Sociales en population générale pendant la crise COVID-19 ») to help assess the health and socio-economic impact of the SARS-CoV2 epidemic and the initial lockdown period (March 17th to May 11th, 2020).

The Elfe and Epipage2 children’s cohorts have pooled their resources to organize a collection specifically for children aged 8-9.

The main objective was to rapidly provide data to characterize the symptomatology of COVID-19 infection in children of one age group, their role in the transmission of infection and the application of barrier measures in their families.

The secondary objective was to assess the impact of the first lockdown on the children’s school career, mental health and well-being during this period and during the first weeks following the lifting of the lockdown. The survey also included a serological component.

The survey was meant for parents (mainland France) for whom an e-mail address was available. The survey involved two types of information gathering:

  • two successive internet questionnaires between April and June 2020. The total number of children for whom at least one of the two questionnaires was completed was 4,904 (35.8% of the 13,696 contacted), and both questionnaires were completed for 3,151 of them (64% of the 4,904 contacted).
  • biological collection. At the end of the second questionnaire, families were invited to take part in the serological component. For more information on biological sample collection, visit the Biological sample collection page (available soon).

The "Cours Moyen 1ère année" School Survey

The CM1 National Survey was conducted at the beginning of the school year, in the fall of 2020, based on an address database of 7,331 schools.

In the French education system, CM1 ("Cours Moyen 1ère année") is the equivalent of Grade 4 in the U.S. system and Year 5 in the UK system. It is the first year of the "Cours Moyen" (Upper Primary) cycle, where students (typically aged 9–10 years old) consolidate their skills in French, mathematics, science, and other subjects before transitioning to CM2 (Grade 5/Year 6).

Originally planned for the end of Grade 3 (CE2), the survey was postponed to the beginning of Grade 4 (CM1) due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

To conduct the survey, educational materials were sent to the schools, while families received an envelope to hand over to the teacher, formalizing their consent to participate.

The survey aimed to collect four types of information:

  • teachers’ perceptions of children’s learning progress, behavior, specific health issues, and special support needs;
  • characteristics of the school, classroom, and teacher;
  • children’s performance in standardized tests assessing French and mathematics skills;
  • school satisfaction, measured through a self-reported questionnaire completed by the child.

The survey focused on the Elfe cohort child and, anonymously, three other children from the same class. The Epipage2 cohort also participated in this study.

A total of 3,066 Elfe children participated (34% of the 9,041 Elfe children whose school address was known), along with approximately 6,949 children from the same classes.

For more information:

Protocol and participation report for the CM1 School Survey (available in French)

The available variables are described in the following document:

CM1 School Survey Questionnaire (available in French)

Teacher instructions are detailed in the following document:

Teacher Guidelines (available in French)

The 10.5-year Survey

The survey at 10.5 years of age was the seventh monitoring step after the inclusion of Elfe children in maternity wards. It included a telephone survey, a home survey and biological collections. This survey was carried out together with the Epipage 2 team.

The new themes introduced at 10.5 years old concern the factors of variation in the pubertal development of children and in particular according to exposure to environmental contaminants; the factors of variation in the motor skills of 10-year-old children; the quality of life of 10-year-old children; biological abnormalities (in particular on fat and blood sugar levels) and blood pressure detectable at 10 years; the child’s relationships with others before entering adolescence.

The main objectives of the telephone survey at 10.5 years old were to update information concerning the child’s environment (family, social, economic, cultural, food, toxic environment, etc.), to question parents about their educational and cultural practices and to document health events (seeking care, pathologies).

The aim of the home visit was to collect information directly from the child about their daily life, their aspirations and their relationships with others. This meeting with the children also made it possible to take measurements of weight, height and breathing, and to have them do some exercises, logic and word recognition games in order to explore their physical, motor and cognitive abilities.

Biological collections, partly carried out at home and partly in an analysis laboratory, were also offered to children with the aim of obtaining different biological markers, linked to their exposure to certain pollutants.

On the survey base of 12,884 Elfe families, the telephone survey at 10.5 years could be carried out completely or incompletely among 9,529 Elfe families and the home visit among 7,387 families.