“My new project aims to investigate how maternal health factors contribute to the development of congenital heart defects. If we can find novel risk factors associated with the development of congenital heart disease, this would be a major breakthrough, and, in the future, could help us find ways to prevent these defects from developing.” -Dr Nathalie Conrad
background
Congenital heart defects are abnormalities of the heart that are present at birth. About 1% of children are born with a heart defect,many of them with suffer lifelong disabilities and about 5% will die before reaching adulthood. In fact, congenital heart disease is one of the most important causes of infant mortality worldwide.
Currently, doctors do not know why some children are born with heart defects nor how these could be prevented; some defects have a genetic origin, but for most defects the cause is simply unknown.
Certain aspects of the mother’s health during pregnancy could play a role in the development of congenital heart defects. For example, infection with the Rubella virus early in pregnancy has been shown to cause heart defects in the child. Certain medications (e.g. thalidomide) or certain autoimmune diseases (e.g. systemic lupus erythematous) have also been shown to increase risks of a mother having a child with a heart anomaly. But many aspects remain unexplored and Dr. Conrad's research aims to address this critical gap.
Methods
The project will take a comprehensive approach by integrating several prospectively collected data sources from the Finnish National Registries, comprising detailed health information from nearly 2 million pregnancies. This includes access to electronic health records for both mothers and their offspring, national congenital anomaly registries, and maternal blood samples collected early in pregnancy that will be re-analysed for this study.
The research will examine a broad range of maternal chronic conditions, therapeutic drug exposures, and infections during pregnancy—areas that have not been thoroughly examined at this scale.
I am absolutely delighted that Nathalie was awarded a prestigious Wellcome Career Development Award to investigate the epidemiology of congenital heart disease and to start her group with us in WRH as Principle Investigator. A warm welcome Nathalie!" - Prof. Krina Zondervan, Head of Department, NDWRH
COLLABORATIONS
To better understand how the fetal heart is formed requires a strong interdisciplinary team, and the project will involve world-leading experts in maternal health, cardiology, embryology, toxicology, epidemiology, and biostatistics. Researchers from the University of Oxford will collaborate closely with experts in London (Imperial College), Belgium (KU Leuven), Germany (the Helmholtz centers), the USA (University of California), and Finland (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare).
Expected outcomes
We hope that this research will allow us to better understand why some children are born with congenital anomalies of the heart. If we can find modifiable risk factors associated with the development of congenital heart disease, this would be a major breakthrough, and, in the future, could help us find ways to prevent these defects from developing.
Wellcome Trust career development awards
Wellcome Trust career development awards are among the most prestigious personal fellowships awarded to mid-career scientists in the UK and are typically awarded to researchers whose work has led to important scientific advancements and are expected to become international leaders in their field.
This award will support Dr. Conrad and her group for 8 years. Dr. Conrad’s group will focus on large-scale data analyses in the field of cardiovascular sciences. Next to studies on congenital heart defects, the group investigates the epidemiology of cardiovascular diseases with a particular focus on women’s cardiovascular health, including women-specific risk factors such as autoimmune diseases or pregnancy outcomes.
Further information
For media enquiries: Rob Phillips, NDWRH Communications & Public Engagement Manager rob.phillips@wrh.ox.ac.uk
For project enquiries: Dr Nathalie Conrad, nathalie.conrad@wrh.ox.ac.uk