THE Children of the 90s health study at the University of Bristol, which researches the lives of thousands of families in the south west, has been awarded £5.2 million to continue its pioneering work to improve people’s health.
Thanks to the Medical Research Council (MRC), Wellcome and the University of Bristol, the funding will allow researchers to carry on the work of Jean Golding, emeritus professor. Professor Golding began Children of the 90s in the early 1990s by recruiting almost 80% of pregnant women from Bristol and its surrounding areas to take part in the health study.
Since then, the project has tracked the health and development of those 14,500 babies from birth and into adulthood. The new funding will allow researchers to continue collecting and analysing health data and samples from the study’s participants.
To date, Children of the 90s has contributed to more than 3,000 research papers leading to many important findings. These discoveries cover all aspects of health and wellbeing from eczema, body weight and child development to autism, mental health and pregnancy.
Professor Evelyn Welch, Vice-Chancellor and President of the university, said: ““Thanks to renewed support, researchers can continue to collect data from Children of the 90s participants to improve the health and wellbeing of current and future generations.”
Around half of the original Children of the 90s’ participants are still in touch with researchers, and many are now starting families of their own. More than 2,000 children of the Children of the 90s (known as COCO90s) have enrolled into the study and more are being born and joining every week.
Last autumn, the study moved to a new home in the University of Bristol’s Learning & Research Building based at Southmead Hospital, part of North Bristol NHS Trusty.
• Children of the 90s is calling on people born from April 1991 to December 1992 in the Avon area to get back in touch. It does not matter if you have not been part of the study for years, you can still participate. The study would particularly like to speak with parents or those with a baby on the way to form part of the COCO90s study.