Department of Women and Children's Health, St Thomas' Hospital, King's College London, London, UK.
Peter Gorer Department of Immunobiology, Guy's Hospital, King's College London, London, UK.
Reprod Health. 2024 Nov 28;21(1):177. doi: 10.1186/s12978-024-01911-0.
Pregnancy and early childhood cohorts provide a framework for investigating the complex interplay between early-life exposures and health outcomes, thereby informing prevention strategies and interventions to improve maternal and child health. In this paper, we outline the objectives, methodologies and expected contributions of INSIGHT-2, a comprehensive cohort study dedicated to advancing our understanding of pregnancy and pregnancy complications towards improving the health and well-being of mothers and their offspring.
Over the course of 5 years, the study aims to establish a diverse cohort of 1700 pregnant women and to follow up their children up to 2 years of age. Recruitment targets participants with healthy pregnancies, preexisting conditions, and/or risk factors for pregnancy complications or later child health problems. Clinical and lifestyle data and a range of biological samples will be collected, providing a comprehensive resource for biomarker investigations and cross-sectional analyses. It is anticipated that the cohort will continue beyond this initial 5-year plan.
By gathering a wide range of biological samples and using diverse analytical techniques, this study supports broad participation, potential replication and collaboration across various sites. The extensive collection of longitudinal data and samples not only facilitates current investigations but also establishes a biobank for future research. The exploration of pre-pregnancy and pregnancy factors that may contribute to disease processes and impact fetal well-being and future health will provide a comprehensive picture of disease mechanisms in both mothers and children, facilitating the identification of biomarkers for the prediction, diagnosis, and management of pregnancy complications. Additionally, our diverse population allows for the capture of various pregnancy complications and outcomes, enhancing external validity and addressing health disparities. This comprehensive design ultimately aims to improve maternal and child health outcomes by providing a valuable longitudinal study of the relationships among the in utero environment, pregnancy management, and long-term maternal and child health, ensuring that findings are relevant and beneficial to a broader population.
妊娠和儿童早期队列为研究生命早期暴露与健康结果之间的复杂相互作用提供了框架，从而为改善母婴健康的预防策略和干预措施提供信息。本文概述了 INSIGHT-2 的目标、方法和预期贡献，这是一项专门研究妊娠和妊娠并发症的综合队列研究，旨在增进我们对妊娠和妊娠并发症的理解，从而改善母亲和她们后代的健康和福祉。
在 5 年的时间里，该研究旨在建立一个由 1700 名孕妇组成的多样化队列，并对其子女进行长达 2 年的随访。招募目标是有健康妊娠、既往疾病和/或妊娠并发症或以后儿童健康问题风险因素的参与者。将收集临床和生活方式数据以及一系列生物样本，为生物标志物研究和横断面分析提供综合资源。预计该队列将在最初的 5 年计划之外继续进行。
通过收集广泛的生物样本并使用多种分析技术，本研究支持广泛参与、潜在复制和跨不同地点的合作。大量纵向数据和样本的收集不仅有利于当前的研究，还为未来的研究建立了一个生物库。探索可能导致疾病过程并影响胎儿健康和未来健康的妊娠前和妊娠因素，将为母亲和儿童的疾病机制提供全面的描述，有助于识别预测、诊断和管理妊娠并发症的生物标志物。此外，我们的多样化人群可以捕捉到各种妊娠并发症和结局，提高外部有效性并解决健康差异问题。这种综合设计最终旨在通过提供对子宫内环境、妊娠管理和长期母婴健康之间关系的有价值的纵向研究，改善母婴健康结果，确保研究结果与更广泛的人群相关且有益。
