A longitudinal interdisciplinary study that begins following a cohort as early as participants’ first trimester.
Goals of the PRÉVENTION Platform
- Implementing an interdisciplinary longitudinal research platform (starting from the first trimester of pregnancy) with a twofold purpose: increasing prevention of the great obstetrical syndromes and deepening our understanding of child health and development, as well as of the factors influencing them;
- Tracking the impact of pre-eclampsia and preterm labour screenings among pregnant participants;
- Understanding how prenatal factors among pregnant women, biological fathers and partners can affect the course of pregnancy as well as the child’s health, both as an infant and later in life;
- Exploring how familial factors postpartum can influence a child’s health and development with consideration towards prenatal factors in the mother, her partner and the child’s biological father;
- Providing researchers studying pregnancy, perinatality, and maternal/fetal health with a database including blood and urine samples from parents, clinical prenatal exams and data from questionnaires, with the goal of maximizing both research outcomes and returns on public research funding.
General approach to database assembly
The past three decades of research in pediatrics, developmental psychology, obstetrics, genomics and neuroscience have demonstrated that significant differences between individuals can be observed from a very early stage in human development, including fetal development, influenced by biological factors (like genetics) or by factors in the environment in which these individuals grow up (tobacco use, stress, distress, obesity, medication use, etc.) (Ettekal et al., 2020). These differences combine with a multitude of events and contexts (familial, economic and educational), which interact with biological factors in predicting children’s future developmental trajectories (Boivin & Hertzman, 2012). Not only can these differences shape a child’s development, behaviour and health, they can also have long-term repercussions, even into adulthood (Boivin & Hertzman, 2012).
PRÉVENTION is a collaborative research platform created to improve our understanding of both risk and protective factors related to pregnancy, child health and development. Taking a longitudinal perspective, from conception to adulthood, it considers the role of pre- and postnatal environments on health and development, as influenced by a child’s biological parents and, if applicable, their partners. Data and samples are drawn from a cohort of approximately 4,000 pregnant participants, as well as their partners and unborn children. Participant recruitment (2022-2025) is carried out as part of a large-scale longitudinal study that begins when participants become pregnant and follows children and their parents over several years. This cohort will support the work of many researchers, both in Quebec and around the world, which will help improve our understanding of factors that influence children’s health, development, behaviour and mental health, ultimately preventing attendant problems and attenuating harmful effects.
Project development:
Click here to enlarge the image.
1. Ettekal, I., Eiden, R. D., Nickerson, A. B., Molnar, D. S., & Schuetze, P. (2020). Developmental cascades to children’s conduct problems : The role of prenatal substance use, socioeconomic adversity, maternal depression and sensitivity, and children’s conscience. Development and Psychopathology, 32(1), 85‑103. https://doi.org/10.1017/S095457941800144X
2. Boivin, M., & Hertzman, C. (2012). Early Childhood Development : Adverse Experiences and Developmental Health. Royal Society of Canada - Canadian Academy of Health Sciences Expert Panel (with Ronald Barr, Thomas Boyce, Alison Fleming, Harriet MacMillan, Candice Odgers, Marla Sokolowski, & Nico Trocmé). Royal Society of Canada, Available from: https://rsc-src.ca/sites/default/files/pdf/ECD%20Report_0.pdf