News
This section keeps you updated on the major developments throughout the RECAP preterm Project.
Knowledge is power when it comes to understanding the mechanisms that lead to better health, development and quality of life for those affected by very preterm birth. To support the generation of knowledge and reduce barriers to research, investigators from the RECAP Preterm consortium set up the LIFT-UP Preterm project. This initiative provides tools and methods to support randomised controlled trials in very preterm populations by utilising the platform in new innovative ways. Implemented in a proof-of-concept study, the LIFT-UP preterm project develops the tools to follow up children enrolled in the TREOCAPA randomised controlled trial when they are two years of age.
About 50 neonatal centres from all over Europe are participating in TREOCAPA (Prophylactic treatment of the ductus arterious in preterm infants by acetaminophen) under the coordination of conect4children (c4c), the Innovative Medicines Innitiative, and the European Foundation for the Care of Newborn Infants (EFCNI). The LIFT-UP Preterm project is proud to prove itself in supporting and continuing this European initiative!
The LIFT-UP Preterm Project aims to enable long-term follow-up for patients born very preterm who have participated in randomised controlled trials. An innovative data entry tool will be included in the RECAP platform providing an online questionnaire for parents to complete. The LIFT-UP Preterm project will also develop tools to facilitate data analysis – including the comparison of trial results to existing observational cohort data, thus providing an indication of how results may apply to children with different characteristics to those included in the trial. As a proof-of-concept, children from the TREOCAPA trial will be followed-up at age two.
The TREOCAPA randomised controlled trial aims to investigate the effect of paracetamol on the health of very preterm infants at discharge from hospital. Paracetamol is a drug that could act on a small vessel called the ductus arteriosus, thus preventing complications occurring after birth.
Having successfully completed the recruitment phase for TREOCAPA, which involved more than 800 participants, the next step is to follow up the children included. Within TREOCAPA-Long-Term (LT), the objective is to investigate the neurodevelopment of the participants at two years of age through the completion of an online questionnaire by their parents.
The RECAP preterm project partners proudly present: an animated video explaining in two minutes the background and aim of RECAP preterm as well as the newly created RCAP Preterm Cohort Platform. Don’t miss this video about RECAP preterm!
The RECAP preterm project partners proudly present: an animated video explaining in two minutes the background and aim of RECAP preterm as well as the newly created RCAP Preterm Cohort Platform. Don’t miss this video about RECAP preterm!
The RECAP preterm platform promotes collaborative research by pooling data from very preterm cohorts and provides exciting opportunities to generate new knowledge about the consequences of preterm birth.
The project partners created 11 interesting Modules to provide you with an overview of very preterm cohorts and collaborative research principles and techniques.
Access the E-Learning course via this website to learn more about the RECAP preterm platform and project.
Every year, 15 million babies are born preterm (i.e. before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy) – more than one baby out of ten, worldwide. World Prematurity Day is a key moment to focus global attention on the burden of preterm birth, leading to long term morbidity and infant mortality.
RECAP preterm honours World Prematurity Day – 17 November 2020
Yet, World Prematurity Day is not only about problems, it is also a chance to talk about solutions! The multitude of events organised around the globe on World Prematurity Day remains the heart of the effort. Each year, an increasing number of countries join World Prematurity Day by raising awareness on social media (#WorldPrematurityDay2020) and organising national and local events, including public art installations, parliamentary hearings, health professional meetings, and charity or awareness marches.
This year’s slogan “World Prematurity Day 2020, Together for babies born too soon – Caring for the future” sheds a light on the importance of working in partnership to support families and healthcare professionals and to strengthen healthcare systems and drive the necessary change:
- We need to promote respectful, culturally appropriate and responsive family centred care and support, including the provision of necessary space and facilities. Parents who are actively involved in the care of their newborn and are in close physical and emotional contact with their baby as early after birth as possible and during hospitalisation can have great benefits on the short- and long-term outcome of their baby, including for example: less need for respiratory support, increased weight gain, improved breastfeeding, shortened hospital stay, less readmission to hospital, or better neurodevelopmental outcome. Active involvement reduces parental stress, equips parents in better taking care of their baby and has positive effects on the parent-child relationship and family life at home, after hospitalisation.
- Ensuring optimal working conditions for healthcare professionals is a critical element for optimal care. This includes sufficient resources, adequate staff training and supervisory support, as well as support by hospital managers and health policy makers, as well as the promotion of respect for healthcare providers and their work. Evidence based, high-quality treatment and care provided in a timely, people centred manner, by a well-trained, specialised multidisciplinary team and safe staffing levels improve health outcomes and enhance staff satisfaction.
- Universal access and focus on equitable, high-quality, affordable services during and after birth or the provision of follow-up and continuing care services are critical to ensure the survival, health and good development of newborns, and represent a smart investment into the future of our societies. Politicians can actively support these efforts by establishing/updating evidence-based laws, policies and regulations, as well as organisational structures around the time of birth and implementing effective follow-up services during the first years of for all newborns in need.
We are delighted to announce that Professor Dieter Wolke has been elected to receive the 2020 British Psychological Society (BPS) Developmental Psychology Section Distinguished Contribution Award for his substantial contributions to research in the field of Developmental Psychology.
Prof. Wolke, from the Department of Psychology and Division of Mental Health & Wellbeing (WMS) at the University of Warwick, focuses on the study of developmental pathways leading to psychopathology, social and emotional development, biological at-risk children (very preterm children), school and sibling bullying, infant regulatory problems (crying, feeding, sleeping) and parenting. Congratulations!
Born too soon? We need your input: As part of the RECAP-preterm project, our colleagues at ISPUP just launched HAPP-e!
HAPP-e is the acronym for “Health of Adult People born Preterm – an electronic cohort pilot study” We are inviting adults with a history of preterm birth to be part of an innovative way of doing research. Click on the image below to find out more about the study and to complete the HAPP-e questionnaire. Filling out the questionnaire requires only a little bit of your time and may provide enormous insight for future generations. Thank you!
The project aims at studying the health and quality of life of individuals born preterm around the world, using exclusively digital tools. In the era of internet and social media, HAPP-e takes advantage of e-epidemiology tools to recruit a large sample of individuals, whose participation will be crucial in achieving better health outcomes, health policies, and healthcare practices for adults born preterm.
By participating, you are shaping the future of 15 million preterm babies born worldwide each year, while helping science and medicine move forward!
If you are an adult (≥ 18 years old) who was born preterm (less than 37 weeks of gestation), visit the link below to complete their questionnaire:
Our most recent open-access publication in JAMA Network Open, entitled “Association of Preterm Birth and Low Birth Weight With Romantic Partnership, Sexual Intercourse, and Parenthood in Adulthood – A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis” by Marina Mendonça, Ayten Bilgin, and Dieter Wolke, received extensive media attention and hundreds of mentionings in the press all over the globe, including amongst others…
On August 13th 2019, RECAP team leader Marit Sæbø Indredavik from the Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine at NTNU (Norway) was awarded the prestigious ‘King’s Medal of Merit’ for her work and achievements in the medical field.
RECAP’s 6th Steering Committee meeting took place in Leiden (The Netherlands) on 1-3 July 2019.
We were very pleased that Prof. Dr. Vincent Jaddoe, the scientific coordinator of the LifeCycle (also an EU-funded Horizon 2020 consortium project), participated in the meeting as a guest speaker!
Including: Updates on 11 work packages, 20 financial statements, a technical report with more than 70 pages and much more information.
A big thank you to all partners for their cooperation and timely submission!
The next GA meeting is planned in Rome, including a Early Career Researcher’s workshop before, and two additional work package sessions.
To get in the mood for this beautiful city: La Grande Bellezza
Recently published last part of the serial on professionals within the RECAP preterm project.
13 April 2018, one-day meeting of WP6 on “Improving data collection, follow-up, and participant involvement”, Porto, Portugal.
This meeting will involve several RECAP cohort representatives in order to agree on the final outline of the “Qualitative study of children, parents and health care professionals on the relevance of available information, gaps and expectations on cohorts follow up” (D6.2)
Frankfurt GA Meeting: The first 12 months of the EU-funded project Research on European Children and Adults born Preterm (RECAP preterm) are over and the consortium consisting of about 60 professionals from diverse areas met to wrap up the first working year and to evaluate whether the project is going well
Currently all milestones and deliverables are on track. For instance, important exchanges on the harmonisation and classification of the later available cohort datasets and the functionality of the data platform took place. Additionally, the process to decide on research questions to be examined with the platform was introduced.
20 transdisciplinary institutions from 12 different countries have joined forces to help improve the lives of babies born preterm.
The following article published by “The Guardian” sheds light on the connection between preterm birth and the risk of mental health problems later in life:
RECAP preterm working together with the Adult Preterm International Collaboration (APIC), 5 May 2017
The RECAP preterm project will be presented at the APIC annual meeting on the 5th of May 2017 in San Francisco. Several cohorts outside the EU have already provided support letters for the RECAP preterm project to collaborate. A recent publication initiaited by APIC includes several RECAP preterm cohorts indicating the power of combining cohorts to determine universal outcomes in adulthood after VP/VLBW birth: Pyhälä R, Wolford E, Kautiainen H, et al. Self-Reported Mental Health Problems Among Adults Born Preterm: A Meta-Analysis. Pediatrics. 2017.