Bump2Baby and Me

is a five-year project with an innovative approach to help promote maternal and child health. The focus of the project is to undertake a randomised controlled trial to test a novel healthcare intervention during pregnancy and the first year after birth. This intervention potentially offers a modern solution to the growing health challenges of obesity and diabetes.

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Project context

Having a baby changes people’s lives but this change should be a positive one that promotes the long-term health of both mother and child. Gestational diabetes is the most common complication a woman will experience in pregnancy, and it has a significant impact on health service costs. Around one in seven pregnant women will experience gestational diabetes and it can seriously affect their future health and that of their children. The risks are clear:

  • Pregnancy complications such as caesarean section, large-for-birth-age babies and special care nursery admissions are much more common in gestational diabetes;
  • Approximately half of women with a history of gestational diabetes  develop type 2 diabetes;
  • Children born to mothers who had gestational diabetes are more likely to develop overweight or obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Put simply, the health system cannot cope with the growing demands that gestational diabetes is placing on it and a change in approach is needed.


pregnant-woman

Project aim

The Bump2Baby and Me project aims to develop and evaluate a cost-effective, evidence-based healthcare intervention to help prevent maternal and child diabetes, overweight and obesity and other non-communicable associated diseases.

“One in two pregnancies now have obesity or overweight issues, which are strongly linked to a risk of developing diabetes in the mother and children. We are therefore excited to work on research that will make a positive contribution to society.”

Sharleen O’Reilly, Project Coordinator


Project Partners

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References

  1. International Diabetes Federation, https://www.idf.org/our-activities/care-prevention/gdm.html
  2. Vounzoulaki Elpida et al. Progression to type 2 diabetes in women with a known history of gestational diabetes: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ 2020, 369:m16361. https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1361
  3. Diabetes Australia, https://www.diabetesaustralia.com/about-diabetes/gestational-diabetes/
  4. Aune D et al. Maternal Body Mass Index and the Risk of Fetal Death, Stillbirth and Infant Death: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA, 2014, 311:1536-46. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/1860462
  5. Tommy’s, https://www.tommys.org/pregnancy-information/pregnancy-complications/gestational-diabetes/long-term-implications-gestational-diabetes.
  6. BBC News, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-49758070
  7. IDF Diabetes Atlas 10th Edition, https://diabetesatlas.org/
  8. Diabetes Australia, https://www.diabetesaustralia.com.au/about-diabetes/
  9. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/gestational.html