Preterm Neurodevelopment Cognition, PRENCOG
Research type
Research Study
Full title
PREterm birth as a determinant of Neurodevelopment and COGnition in children: mechanisms and causal evidence.
IRAS ID
325276
Contact name
James Peter Boardman
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Edinburgh
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
PRENCOG is a programme of research consisting of four interlinked work packages (WP). Permissions and approvals for each WP will be managed separately. In this application we seek review of WP2 only. All answers relate to WP2.
Globally, 15 million infants are born preterm (less than 37 weeks of gestation) each year. Survival rates for infants born too soon or too small have improved dramatically over the past two decades, but brain injury among survivors has not. Consequently, preterm birth is a leading cause of developmental and learning problems in childhood. As survivors of modern intensive care have begun to reach adulthood, it is clear that the legacy of preterm birth can affect the life course.
Cerebral palsy, autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, low IQ, memory problems, language and social difficulties, depression, and schizophrenia are all more common in people who were born early. Importantly, there are no effective treatments for promoting brain health after preterm birth. One of the biggest challenges facing perinatal medicine is to find new ways to reduce brain injury and improve life-long outcomes. In this project, we aim to discover which parental/infant factors influence the brain development of preterm infants, and how those factors become biologically 'embedded' in the brain.
To do this, we will use sophisticated brain scans (MRI) to define changes in brain growth that commonly affect premature babies and will use these to investigate how premature birth causes altered brain development. We will investigate whether the perinatal stress environment (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity) and/or markers of low-level chronic systemic inflammation (DNA methylation signatures) link risk factors with brain changes on MRI.
In summary, this programme will explain why some premature children develop brain injury while others are resilient. It could pave the way to new therapies that promote healthy brain growth and long-term outcomes because the stress response and immune systems are modifiable, and mechanistic understanding of cognitive deficits is essential for developing rational cognitive training strategies.
REC name
South East Scotland REC 02
REC reference
23/SS/0067
Date of REC Opinion
29 Jun 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion