Page 59 - Joondalup Health Campus Annual Report 2017

One of the most significant projects approved by the JHC Human Research Ethics Committee during 2016-17 was the ORIGINS Project.
ORIGINS is a long-term project expected
to span 20 years or more that will involve multiple studies with over 10,000 participants and will focus on the early origins of disease. Participants will be involved for the duration of pregnancy (from ten weeks gestation) and followed up when their baby is a year old, two and half and again at five years of age.
In collaboration with the Telethon Kids Institute, this project looks at environmental influences from the womb and in the early years of life that may affect our likelihood of developing non-communicable diseases such as asthma, allergies, speech delay, heart disease, cancer, obesity and diabetes. The study will also look at trans-generational links such as how smoking during the pregnancies of grandmothers affects the incidence of asthma in her grandchildren.
The project has involved the establishment of
a ‘bio-bank’ – that is, a repository of biological samples and information about lifestyle – which will be drawn upon in various sub-studies.
origins Sub-Studies
symba
The study will examine whether supplementing a mother’s diet during pregnancy and breastfeeding with prebiotic fibre will reduce the development of allergies in her child.
talK
The aim of the TALK study is to understand how testosterone exposure in the womb may be related to brain growth before birth, and language development after birth. The study will track children from prenatal life to three years of age.
Plan
The aim of the Pregnancy Lifestyle Activity and Nutrition (PLAN) project is to test whether a lifestyle intervention in a mother’s early pregnancy reduces the risk of obesity in her child later in life.
care dads
This project is aimed at providing expectant fathers with a health check-up and test a series of lifestyle interventions and practical changes designed to improve their health. Studies have shown that a father’s involvement in his child’s life can be associated with positive child outcomes.
JOONDALUP HEALTH CAMPUS | ANNUAL REPORT 2016/17
57