Life Study – Research into childhood health
Life Study is an internationally leading research study that will involve up to 80,000 babies born between 2014 and 2018 and their families across the UK. Life Study was happy to announce that Leicester will be the next and 2nd city to host Life Study. Life Study will provide insights into the health and wellbeing of children as well as making contributions to the health of children in the UK. The information collected will be used to support research and policies aimed at giving children the best possible start in life.
A big focus of the project is to develop a good picture of children’s lives in the UK today. Children from families of different ethnic and cultural groups have previously been underrepresented in earlier research studies which look at children. So it is vital they are included to ensure accurate research.
Professor Carol Dezateux, Scientific Director of Life Study said: “Life Study will help Leicester understand how to tackle key issues relevant to its children’s health and well-being. By working in partnership with Leicester’s Hospitals, Life Study will support research into children and families from an ethnically and socially diverse community.”
“The public health and policy priorities for child health in Leicester are closely aligned to those of Life Study. The information collected will help research into the childhood origins of important health problems such as obesity and diabetes and ultimately to inform future policies and healthcare services that meet local population needs.”
The first Life Study Centre, at King George Hospital in Ilford, was officially opened in March 2015 by actress, comedian and screenwriter Meera Syal who said “The wonderful thing about Life Study is that they are following so many families over such a long period, meaning we have a chance to answer some of those big questions about environment, genetic triggers and upbringing.”
Pregnant women planning to give birth at Leicester Royal Infirmary or Leicester General Hospital (LGH) and their partners will be invited to join Life Study and to come to the new Life Study Centre at LGH in the second half of their pregnancy, and again when their baby is 6 and 12 months old. Recruitment to the study will begin in summer 2015 and appointments will take place from September 2015.
“A large study like Life Study will bring funding into Leicester’s Hospitals over the duration of the study. To ensure that we are ready to start delivering the study as soon as possible, we and the Life Study have invested over one million pounds for facilities, equipment and staff. Life Study will be bringing around 20 new posts to Leicester’s Hospitals which include research midwives, research healthcare assistants and others. We are working hard to ensure that there is a dedicated Life Study Centre at Leicester General Hospital, with all the necessary staff ready to recruit the first study participants. We are very excited about this project and look forward to the launch later in the year.” said Professor Nigel Brunskill, Director of Research and Innovation at Leicester’s Hospitals and Professor of Renal Medicine at the University of Leicester