The 22 Week Study v4
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Clinical Management and Short-Term Outcomes of Neonates Born at 22 Weeks in UK Neonatal Intensive Care Units
IRAS ID
346626
Contact name
Cheryl Battersby
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College London
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 29 days
Research summary
In the UK, babies born at 22 weeks have only been offered resuscitation and survival-focused care since 2019. Only a small number of babies are born this early in pregnancy each year and sadly a lot of them do not survive to discharge. Healthcare professionals have very little information about this new population of tiny babies, in terms of what happens to them and how to treat them to give them the best care.
All babies born early (preterm) needing to be looked after on the neonatal unit have lots of clinical information recorded during their stay. To start to bridge the gap in knowledge, this study will collect some of this detailed information on how these babies are born, stabilised and then their clinical journey and intensive care management, in order to start to learn more and potentially identify good practice and ways to improve outcomes. It will include babies born between 22 and 23 weeks gestation, who are attended to at birth by a neonatal team at an intensive care site, across the UK over a year-long period. All identifiable data will be kept within the treating hospital trust, researchers will only have access to de-identified data, kept on a secure platform. There will not be any changes to the babies' care through this study, it only observes what happens.
This reported data may help healthcare professionals to treat future babies born early and to be able to give families more information before and after their baby is born, about what they might expect to happen.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Leeds West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/YH/0027
Date of REC Opinion
10 Mar 2025
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion