Investment in the earliest stages of life is increasingly recognised as a means to improve health across the life-course, beginning with the health of parents before pregnancy, in embryonic life, through to infancy, childhood and into adulthood. Mothers’ physical and mental wellbeing before and during pregnancy and in the first months after birth are known to be strongly associated with infant health, child development, and the risk of disease in later life.
Clinical data linkages in maternity or neonatal services have not yet incorporated both physical and mental health care information. The eLIXIR Programme is able to address relationships between maternal and child physical health, and to investigate interactions with mental health. eLIXIR was developed by a Partnership Grant from UKRI (MRC Grant reference MR/P003060/1).
It commenced in 2018, creating a dynamic research database of de-identified information drawn from the electronic health record systems of two acute NHS Trusts and one mental health NHS Trust in south London (Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s College Hospital, and South London and Maudsley respectively). De-identified information from local General Practice records (Lambeth DataNet) has more recently been incorporated. A biobank of maternal and neonatal blood samples has also been created.
eLIXIR combines information from routine health records and blood samples from mothers and their children from four London boroughs, Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark, and Bromley. These areas include some of the highest levels of deprivation and ethnic diversity in London, and the UK.
Aims of the eLIXIR Cohort Programme
This new and important resource will help us explore the ‘life-course’ of some of the most common diseases in a contemporary study which reflects the diversity of this population in real-time, and of relevance to other populations in the UK.
eLIXIR aims to:
- Develop a research registry linking routine maternal and child physical and mental health data in South London
- Develop a linked biological sample collection (bioresource) from routinely collected blood samples
- Develop a research programme using these linked resources to help understand the early origins of disease and provide novel strategies for prevention
Information for Researchers– If you are interested to access the data as a researcher.
Information for Participants– If you are pregnant and interested in participating or are currently involved as a participant.
