Australia’s biggest longitudinal study following the health and wellbeing of children from their conception through to childhood, has welcomed its 10,000th and final participant.
Baby Christian Hough was born at Joondalup Health Campus in early October.
ORIGINS Co-Director and Professor of Paediatrics Desiree Silva said it was extremely exciting to have reached the major milestone.
“Now the work continues to curate these precious resources that we have gathered and to continue to work with our wonderful ORIGINS families over the next five years to explore the impact of the early environment on child health and development to possibly uncover some of the causes of chronic conditions,” Professor Silva said.
Families participating in ORIGINS have provided biological samples, answered questionnaires and routinely provided medical information with the aim of researchers and clinicians using the data to improve child and adult health.
ORIGINS has built a Biobank and Databank allowing researchers to deliver findings into the reduction of childhood diseases through a ‘healthy start to life.’
At the time of writing, the ORIGINS Biobank had:
- 539,240 millilitres of blood, enough to fill a commercial refrigerator
- 97,870 grams of stool, enough to fill one and a half washing machines
- Enough dust to fill three bathtubs
To many these may just seem like large numbers, but to Professor Silva, these numbers represent the tools needed to complete pioneering interventional studies into child health.
“These studies are aimed at improving a broad range of health outcomes by modifying the early environment, such as our clinical trial aimed at improving maternal gut health in pregnancy and lactation to improve metabolic and immune health of a developing baby,” Professor Silva said.
Christian’s mother, Sarah Hough, whose older child, Jake, is also enrolled in ORIGINS, said participating in the study was an easy decision for her family.
“The work ORIGINS is undertaking is life changing, not only for my kids but future generations as well. We feel proud to be part of a study that’s helping to save the lives of future children and help all families have a healthier start to life,” Ms Hough said.
Professor Silva said it was a testament to the dedication of the ORIGINS families to reduce the prevalence of childhood disease that the project had now reached its 10,000th baby milestone.
“Without our families, there is no ORIGINS. Their commitment to research, the community, the health of their own families, and that of the next generation ensures that we can enable all children to have a healthy start for a better future.”
ORIGINS encourages those with a research interest in reducing the prevalence of childhood disease to visit its online Data Catalogue.