INTERBIO -21st Project Overview & Collaborators

Overview

The INTERBIO-21st Study is an extension to the INTERGROWTH-21st Project. The study aims to improve the phenotypic characterisation of the fetal growth restriction/small for gestational age (FGR/SGA)  and preterm birth syndromes at molecular, biochemical and clinical levels so as to develop better strategies to correct the effects of an adverse intrauterine environment.The study is initially focusing on the effects of nutrition on fetal growth and development in healthy and complicated pregnancies from seven different populations worldwide by using epigenetic profiling of cord blood and placental tissues to understand better the causes of the FGR/SGA and preterm birth syndromes. The populations being studied have very different risk profiles as they include some women in resource-poor settings at high risk for FGR/SGA and preterm delivery because of malnutrition and/or infection (HIV and malaria). Standardised information about pregnancy outcomes and anthropometric measurements are also being collected using tools developed in the INTERGROWTH-21st Project.

INTERBIO-21st has two components: the Fetal and Neonatal Studies. In the Fetal Study, which is limited to certain settings, women are being monitored from early pregnancy onwards so as to capture very detailed information about fetal growth patterns; in the Neonatal Study, women are identified at birth provided that gestational age has been confirmed by ultrasound < 24 weeks’ gestation.

COLLABORATORS

Stephen H Kennedy a, Cesar G Victora b, Rachel Craik a, Stephen Ash a, Fernando C Barros c, Hellen C Barsosio b, James A Berkley d,e, Maria Carvalho f, Michelle Fernandes a, Leila Cheikh Ismail a, Ann Lambert a, Cecilia M Lindgren g, Rose McGready h, Shama Munim i, Christoffer Nellåker a, Julia A Noble j, Shane A Norris k, Francois Nosten h, Eric Ohuma a,l, Aris T Papageorghiou a, Alan Stein m, William Stones f, Chrystelle O O Tshivuila-Matala a,k, Eleonora Staines Urias a, Manu Vatish a, Katharina Wulff nGhulam Zainab i, Krina T Zondervan a,o, Ricardo Uauy p,q*, Zulfiqar A Bhutta r,s*, José Villar a*

a Nuffield Department of Women’s & Reproductive Health and Oxford Maternal & Perinatal Health Institute, Green Templeton College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

b Programa de Pós-Graduação em Epidemiologia, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil

c Programa de Pós-Graduação em Saúde e Comportamento, Universidade Católica de Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil

d KEMRI-Coast Centre for Geographical Medicine and Research, Kilifi, Kenya

e Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

f Faculty of Health Sciences, Aga Khan University, Nairobi, Kenya

g Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

h Shoklo Malaria Research Unit, Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Mae Sot, Thailand

i Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Division of Women and Child Health, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan

j Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

k SAMRC Developmental Pathways For Health Research Unit, Department of Paediatrics & Child Health, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

l Centre for Statistics in Medicine, Botnar Research Centre, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

m Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

n Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

o Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

p Division of Paediatrics, Pontifical Universidad Catolica de Chile, Chile

q London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK

r Center for Global Child Health, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada.

s Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan