£1.5m study to end heartache of early births
SHE has spoken of the ‘overwhelming’ pain of losing her premature baby Jennifer after only ten days. Gordon Brown’s wife Sarah said the loss of her daughter, who was born seven weeks early, changed her forever.
Now the ex-Prime Minister’s wife is launching a study it is hoped will generate new treatments for premature babies.
The Theirworld Edinburgh Birth Cohort will track the development of 400 babies who are born before 32 weeks, following them to adulthood.
These vulnerable infants are at increased risk of conditions such as cerebral palsy and brain damage.
It is hoped samples and brain scans taken from the babies could help identify the causes and effects of brain injury at birth.
Jennifer Jane, the Browns’ first child, died of a brain haemorrhage just over a week after being born on December 28, 2001, in a hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife. In an essay she wrote about losing her daughter, Mrs Brown said: ‘I had assumed I must find a way to recover and resume my life, which proved impossible.
‘Instead I realised that the loss of Jennifer had changed me forever.’
Years later, Mrs Brown is determined to protect premature babies.
She said: ‘For Gordon and I, when we lost Jennifer, one of the things I realised was just how many families have experienced that.
‘It’s something I wasn’t aware of until it happened to me, and then you realise the vulnerability of pregnancies and of safe births.
‘If I look back to the years from when Jennifer was born – the information that we didn’t have and couldn’t have – so much has changed in medicine already, the outcomes in hospitals are so different already.
‘But, of course, we can do better than that and we want to make sure at Theirworld that every family has the chance to take home their precious, longed-for baby.’
Around 15million babies worldwide are premature, born before 37 weeks of gestation, increasing their chances of having cerebral palsy, autism disorders and learning difficulties.
The £1.5million study will also examine the way premature birth affects the health of babies in their later years, even recording information on their educational performance.
Mrs Brown said: ‘We know that when babies are born prematurely or born with difficulties, that those precious first days in hospital are so critical. What’s not often realised is there might be implications going forward in life.’
Mrs Brown, the founder of Theirworld, was a driving force behind the establishment in 2004 of the Jennifer Brown Research Laboratory, based at the University of Edinburgh.
Speaking about Theirworld’s new programme, she said: ‘It opens up the opportunity to really study the long-term effects of early birth. We are so grateful to the families generously giving their time with their precious babies to share information and contribute to this study over the coming years.’
Dr James Boardman, leading researcher at the Jennifer Brown Research Laboratory, said: ‘Following children to adulthood will help us understand the most important determinants of risk and resilience for long-term outcome after premature birth, and by studying biological samples we hope to develop treatments to improve their lifelong health.’
‘First days are so critical’