Re-Growth
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Reassessing the growth of infants born below 32 weeks’ gestation in the UK, 2014-2018
IRAS ID
266642
Contact name
Mark J Johnson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Southampton NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
There is a national database which holds detailed information about every very premature baby born in England. A previous study in 2013 by Cole et al showed that very premature babies in England born between 2006 and 2011 usually grow significantly more slowly than fetuses in the womb. Recently, our research group has shown that very premature babies born in Southampton neonatal unit between 2012 and 2017 keep up with fetal growth. This study will use the national database to assess whether there has been an improvement in the growth of very premature babies in England as a whole since the 2013 study and establish whether the improvements in growth seen in Southampton are unique to that unit, as a result of our local nutrition practices, or a result of improvements at a national level. If we can show our practices help babies to grow better we can then move on to test them in other units as part of a larger study. We will consider the data for infants born in England over a five-year period (2014-2018 inclusive). We will be provided with anonymised data from the national database so that we cannot identify any of the babies individually, but we will be able to identify the neonatal unit on which they were treated. The analysis will be performed by our research group in Southampton with support from our collaborator, Prof Tim Cole at the Institute of Child Health (University College London).
REC name
South Central - Oxford A Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/SC/0073
Date of REC Opinion
12 Feb 2020
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion