Research shows that the development of many serious diseases may occur as early as in the womb. So what happens in pregnancy, or even our parents' health, can increase our risk of chronic health issues such as obesity, heart disease, allergies and poor mental health developing in later life.
These diseases collectively are known as non-communicable diseases (NCD) and pose the greatest threat to human health globally.
Through the study of early environments, maternal physical health and genetics, ORIGINS aims to uncover when and why non-communicable diseases develop.
ORIGINS is the largest longitudinal cohort study of its in Australia. Following 10,000 WA children from their time into the womb and into early childhood, ORIGINS researchers are working to better understand when and why non-communicable diseases develop, and provide solutions for early intervention to ensure every child has an equal opportunity to flourish throughout their lifetime.
ORIGINS researchers are collecting detailed information from our participating families via questionnaires about how the early environment influences the risk of a broad range of diseases, including asthma, allergies, mental health and neurodevelopmental disorders.
In addition to completing routine questionnaires, ORIGINS families are also asked to provide biological samples. To date, ORIGINS has over 400,000 biological samples in our Biobank.
Some of our Biobank samples include:
539,240 mililitres 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 bathrubs
At one, three, five and eight years of age, ORIGINS participants are asked to attend a Kids Check free health and developmental assessment. Not only does this detailed appointment provide invaluable data on the impact of the early environment on a child's development, but also provides an opportunity to provide early detection of developmental issues, with families referred to specialist services if required.
ORIGINS is a longitudinal birth cohort study, which involves the repeated collection of the same information/data from participants over a long period of time, starting during pregnancy and continuing until the child turns eight years old, and beyond.
Continuing to collect rich longitudinal data from our families, beyond their child’s first five years, is how we will really see the outcomes of the research ORIGINS is undertaking. Changes can be tracked, across the family unit, so that cause and effect relationships can be discovered. Longitudinal studies can provide a unique insight that might not be possible any other way.
ORIGINS is one of many international studies of this type, see similar studies here.
Why create a new birth cohort study?
The Raine Study, established in 1989, was one of the very first Developmental Origins of Health and Disease studies in the world.
It was the first and largest pregnancy cohort study in the world to include detailed fetal measurements. It has been decades, however, since the Raine Study was established. There have been many changes in lifestyles, nutrition, environment and behaviour, which are posing new questions about their impact on health.
We have also seen the emergence of many 'new' health challenges, including the dramatic increasing burden of obesity in children, the allergy epidemic and an increasing burden of mental ill health, especially in children and young people.
All of these conditions have their 'origins' in early life, and there is a pressing need to understand how the early environment is contributing to this unsustainable health burden.
It is estimated that the current generation of children will have a shorter life expectancy than their parents, simply because of obesity and its complications. Early interventions will be the only way to curtail this situation.
Since the Raine Study began, there have been substantial advances in this field, including the emerging role of the 'microbiome' (the balance of good and bad bacteria in the gut) in all aspects of health, and the study of 'epigenetics' (the study of changes in gene activity which are not caused by changes in the DNA sequence) as a new frontier in understanding genetic and environmental influences during early development.
The establishment of the Clinical School at Joondalup Health Campus provides the perfect opportunity and an ideal environment to build a new birth cohort. The campus participates in the training of medical, midwifery and nursing students through clinical placements. This is a well-integrated multidisciplinary team with strong links to the community and academic institutions including the University of Western Australia, Curtin University and Edith Cowan University.