The University of Birmingham is leading a new three-year UK-wide study aimed at improving health care and outcomes for pregnant women who have at least two long-term active health problems.
Currently, one in five pregnant women in the UK has at least two active long-term health problems. These can be both physical problems (like diabetes or high blood pressure) and mental health problems (like depression or anxiety). Often, women also need to take multiple medications to manage their different health needs.
The new study, titled Multimorbidity and Pregnancy: Determinants, Clusters, Consequences and Trajectories (MuM-PreDiCT), aims to use data-driven research to characterize and understand what makes it more likely to have two or more conditions. long term for pregnant women and the consequences for mother and child; and to predict and prevent unwanted effects.
MuM-PreDiCT will be divided into five research work packages:
- Examine how health problems accumulate over time and identify what makes a woman more at risk of developing at least two long-term health problems before pregnancy.
- Explore women’s experiences of care during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum, working with families and health professionals to determine how care could be improved.
- Explore how having two or more long-term health problems can affect pregnant women and their children by identifying findings that women, healthcare professionals and researchers believe should be reported in the research to examine how often women experience pregnancy complications; and explore the frequency with which women and their children develop additional long-term health problems
- Investigate how taking drug combinations may affect pregnant women with two or more long-term health problems and their babies.
- Build a prediction model to help identify the likelihood that a previously healthy pregnant woman will develop several long-term conditions after pregnancy.
Professor Krish Nirantharakumar, University of Birmingham Institute for Applied Health Research and MuM-PreDiCT Principal Investigator, said: “Having two or more health problems is more and more common in pregnant women, because women are older and older when they start to start a family and obesity and mental health problems are on the rise in general.
“However, we don’t really understand what the consequences of multiple health problems or medications are for mothers and babies.
“It can complicate pregnancy, healthcare and medication management. Without a deeper understanding of the problem, women with several long-term health conditions may not have the best and safest experience of care before, during and after pregnancy because services were not designed with the knowledge in mind. according to their health needs.
Dr Beck Taylor, Clinical Lecturer at the University of Birmingham and Co-Investigator of MuM-PreDiCT, said: “Our research will provide valuable information to help women and clinicians make informed decisions and identify the prevention and intervention points. We will also explore experiences of maternity care for women with two or more long-term conditions and work with families and health and social service professionals to produce recommendations on how to plan and design services that meet the needs of women and their families before, during and after pregnancy.
MuM-PreDiCT is funded by the UK’s £ 20million Research and Innovation Strategic Priorities Fund (UKRI) initiative titled ‘Tackling multi-morbidity at scale: Understanding Disease Clusters , Determinants & Biological Pathways ”. The SPF is issued by the Medical Research Council and the National Institute for Health Research in partnership with the Economic and Social Research Council and in collaboration with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. It is jointly funded by UKRI and the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, through NIHR.
MuM-PreDiCT is run by the University of Birmingham in collaboration with the University of Aberdeen, University of St Andrews, University of Swansea, Queen’s University of Belfast, University of Ulster, the University of Manchester, Keele University, Bristol & Weston NHS Foundation Trust, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.
Siang Ing Lee, University Clinical Researcher at the University of Birmingham and MuM-PreDiCT, added: “We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our incredible Patient and Public Engagement Advisory Group (PPI) and to the Co-Investigators. PPIs that will play an essential part in MuM-PreDiCT.
Notes for Editors
- To arrange media interviews, please contact Emma McKinney, Media Relations Officer (Health Sciences), University of Birmingham, tel. : +44 7815607157
- The University of Birmingham is ranked among the top 100 institutions in the world and its work brings people from all over the world to Birmingham, including researchers and teachers and over 6,500 international students from nearly 150 countries.
- The mission of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. We do this by:
- Fund high quality and timely research that benefits the NHS, public health and social services;
- Invest in world-class expertise, facilities and a skilled workforce to translate findings into improved treatments and services;
- Collaborate with patients, service users, caregivers and communities, improving the relevance, quality and impact of our research;
- Attract, train and support the best researchers to tackle complex challenges in health and social care;
- Collaborate with other public funders, charities and industry to help shape a cohesive and globally competitive research system;
- Funding for applied research and training in global health to meet the needs of the poorest people in low- and middle-income countries.
- NIHR is funded by the Department of Health and Social Affairs. Its work in low and middle income countries is primarily funded by UK Aid from the UK government.
