Well.

Rutgers researchers are breathing new life into a decades old pregnancy study that followed nearly 5000 women from Camden for more than 20 years.

The research contains crucial insight into maternal and infant health outcomes in a population that's rarely studied.

Scientists used questionnaires, medical assessments and other records that were collected from moms and their babies, in some cases up until six weeks after they were born.

But a goldmine of bio data things like blood and urine samples or cord blood from infants remained hidden in freezers at Rowan University.

Until now, Rutgers health researcher doctor Emily Barrett and a colleague took over the project, and she joins me.

Doctor Barrett, thanks for coming on this show.

I'm curious what type of data is inside this mysterious cohort that, it seems has, sort of laid dormant for the last couple of decades.

Yeah.

Well, I think this is a really special project, and we're so thrilled that we're the ones to be able to kind of, elevate it back into the public consciousness.

So the Camden study is an example of a pregnancy cohort study.

This is a really powerful research tool that we have to understand maternal and child health.

And I think for those of us living in new Jersey, it is really exciting to be able to get these insights into the health of moms and children in new Jersey.

What type of insights have you already been able to glean?

I mean, I know we're talking thousands of of pregnant women who were followed, between 1985 and 2006.

So I can only imagine how much you need to go through.

But, have you found anything unique so far?

Well, I'll tell you what.

We actually at Rutgers just recently, adopted this cohort as our own.

So for a long time, it was based at Rowan University.

And as I mentioned, previously, is pregnant.

Participants were recruited for about two decades, from 1985 to 2006, from prenatal clinics in the Camden area.

They were followed across their pregnancy to learn about, their lifestyle, the levels of things like hormones and inflammatory markers circulating through their bodies, and then to ultimately understand, the health of their babies.

And so there have been some really unique insights, generated over the years from this cohort.

So things, specific to teen pregnancies in particular.

So a lot of the participants were teenagers when they were recruited.

And we've learned things about how the mother's body adapts to the fact that it's still growing as a teenager, and you're also growing a baby at the same time.

And what does that mean for the mom's health?

But also the baby's health?

And so there have been many, many publications to come out of this, cohort over the years, but it's kind of kind of a little bit quieter in the last decade or so.

And so when we, we're able to connect with the team at Rowan that has started the study, and express our interest in elevating it, raising it back up, using these data for new analyzes.

They were really enthusiastic.

So that's interesting because obviously the teen, pregnancy rate has declined over the years.

So it's unlike that you'd be able to get that type of data, nowadays.

What's your hope?

I mean, what do you already targeting to use this data to look at it?

I mean, we're talking about folks who, lived in Camden.

So this is a historically underrepresented population to begin with.

Yeah, exactly.

You hit the nail on the head.

So a lot of the research that we see going on is in wealthier populations.

It's in whiter populations, more educated populations.

And when we see a really unique, pool of participants who can give us insights into moms health and children's health that we might not get elsewhere, we really want to capitalize on it.

Our dream actually is moving forward to potentially reconnect with these families.

They gave such a gift to us giving these data, spending their time with the researchers.

And we want to give back by using those data responsibly to improve the health of new Jersey residents.

So we're hoping that moving forward, we may be able to find these moms who were teenagers at the time.

But now are going to be in midlife or even kind of older age, and also their children.

Who were the babies born into these, this study who are now going to be young adults?

I think that's going to be really potentially exciting to kind of look at these intergenerational relationships.

Yeah.

So for those watching, listening, who may have been in or around the area or born in the area, certainly we hope that they pay attention.

And maybe reach out.

Doctor Emily Barrett is a Rutgers health researcher.

Thanks so much for coming on.

Thanks for having me.