All Our Babies Cohort Study: recruitment of a cohort to predict women at risk of preterm birth through the examination of gene expression profiles and the environment

Collaborations have been established between clinical lab services, the provincial health service provider and researchers to create an interdisciplinary study design for the All Our Babies Study. A birth cohort of 2000 women has been established to address this research question. Women provide informed consent for blood sample collection, linkage to medical records and complete questionnaires related to prenatal health, service utilization, social support, emotional and physical health, demographics, and breast and infant feeding. Maternal blood samples are collected in PAXgene？ RNA tubes between 18-22 and 28-32 weeks gestation for transcriptomic analyses.The All Our Babies Study is an example of how investment in clinical-academic-community partnerships can improve research efficiency and accelerate the recruitment and data collection phases of a study. Establishing these partnerships during the study design phase and maintaining these relationships through the duration of the study provides the unique opportunity to investigate the multi-causal factors of preterm birth. The overall All Our Babies Study results can potentially lead to healthier pregnancies, mothers, infants and children.Preterm birth remains poorly understood in modern society despite accounting for 75% of perinatal mortality [1,2]. Moreover, the rate of preterm birth, that is birth before 37 completed weeks of gestation, has been on the rise for the past 3 decades in many developed countries including Canada, the USA and European nations where current rates range between 5-12% [3]. Infants born preterm are at increased risks for neonatal complications and associated long-term morbidity [4] such as developmental delays, hearing and vision impairments, respiratory distress syndrome, cerebral palsy and retinopathy of prematurity, prolonging the financial, emotional and stress-related costs of prematurity well beyond the care received within neonatal intensive care units. The risk for adverse neonata