The Raine Study is one of the largest prospective cohorts of pregnancy, childhood, adolescence and now early adulthood to be carried out anywhere in the world. Its purpose is to improve human health and well-being, through the study of a cohort of

Western Australian Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

s from before birth onwards. The Raine Study is a joint venture between

The University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany and various other facilities ...

Curtin University of Technology Curtin University, formerly known as Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT), is an Australian public research university based in Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. It is named after John Curtin, P ...

Telethon Kids Institute The Telethon Kids Institute is an Australian medical research institute focused on the prevention of paediatric disease and the development of improved treatments to improve the health and wellbeing of children. Telethon Kids has developed a pa ...

, Women and Infants Research Foundation,

Edith Cowan University Edith Cowan University (ECU) is a public university in Western Australia. It is named in honour of the first woman to be elected to an Australian parliament, Edith Cowan, and is the only Australian university named after a woman. Gaining unive ...

Murdoch University Murdoch University is a public university in Perth, Western Australia, with campuses also in Singapore and Dubai. It began operations as the state's second university on 25 July 1973, and accepted its first undergraduate students in 1975. Its n ...

and

The University of Notre Dame Australia The University of Notre Dame Australia (UNDA) is a national Roman Catholic private university with campuses in and in Western Australia and Sydney in New South Wales. The university also has eight clinical schools as part of its school of me ...

and receives additional funding from the Raine Medical Research Foundation and

National Health and Medical Research Council The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) is the main statutory authority of the Australian Government responsible for medical research. It was the eighth largest research funding body in the world in 2016, and NHMRC-funded rese ...

History

Originally known as The Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort, the Raine Study was established in 1989 to determine how events during pregnancy and childhood influence health in later life. 2,900 pregnant women (Gen1) entered the study and 2,868 live births (index participants = Gen2) were recruited into the Raine Study cohort between 1989 and 1992. An additional circa 100 grandparents (Gen0) and 750 offspring of Gen2 (Gen3) have been registered with the Study as of August 2021. The Raine Study started as a randomised controlled trial to examine the effects of frequent and repeated fetal ultrasound imaging studies on birth outcomes. It has since become a multi-generational study that provides information on the developmental origins of health and disease. The index participants in the study have had physical assessment, questionnaire and biosample data collected at ages 18 and 36 weeks gestated, 1, 2, 3, 5, 14, 17, 18, 20, 22, 27 and 28 years of age.

References

External links

* {{official, https://www.rainestudy.org.au Australian medical research Cohort studies Health in Western Australia