THE RAINE STUDY
The Raine Study’s Professor Romola Bucks with participants and researchers
Way back in 1989, an ambitious group of Western Australian researchers began recruiting participants for a study exploring the impact that early life events, starting in the womb, can have on a person’s long-term health and wellbeing.
By 1991, the researchers had recruited 2,900 women in their 18th week of pregnancy, the first participants in a multi-generational research project that would come to be known as the Raine Study — named in honour of the Study’s first and longest ongoing funding partner, the Raine Medical Research Foundation, which was endowed by Perth businesswoman and philanthropist Mary Raine.
The children born into the Raine Study between 1989 and 1992 have been studied since before they were born, and have provided invaluable data to researchers working to improve people’s health and wellbeing all throughout the world.
The information collected by the Raine Study encompasses all aspects of health and wellbeing, ranging from physical indicators like eyesight and cardiovascular performance to mental health and educational attainment.
All of the data collected from participants in the Raine Study is anonymised before it is shared with researchers, though participants do receive the full results of the assessments in which they take part, which can occasionally provide them with surprising and valuable insights.
Remarkably, over a period of 30 years, the project has retained more than 70 percent of its participants, which can be broken down into four groups: Gen2 (children born into the Raine Study), Gen1 (the parents who gave birth to Gen2), Gen0 (the parents of the original Raine Study babies) and Gen3 — the newest generation comprising the offspring of Gen2.
Data and samples collected from this multi-generational cohort have contributed to the publication of more than 600 scientific papers, and facilitated collaboration between researchers from all five of WA’s universities, as well as the Telethon Kids Institute and Women and Infants Research Foundation.
The longitudinal design of the Raine Study makes it particularly valuable for medical and scientific researchers examining diseases across the full life course, from in utero to childhood and adolescence, and now adulthood and older age.
Some of the notable findings of research conducted through the Raine Study include:
The safety of regular ultrasounds during pregnancy.
Improved physical health and behavioural outcomes for children breastfed for more than four months.
The identification of specific genes associated with birthweight, lung function language development, puberty and reproductive function.
Confirmation that children conceived through IVF suffer no negative outcomes compared to those conceived without reproductive assistance.
The range of research made possible by the study has become more diverse as the participants have grown up. However, as the scope of the project continues to grow, so does the challenge of collecting, cataloguing and maintaining a vast store of data and bio-samples that require special facilities for storage.
In 2020, a technical malfunction caused the loss of a significant proportion of the Raine Study’s collection of historical bio-samples, highlighting the need for further investment.
Fortunately, with the support of a Health Research Grant awarded by the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation, a team headed by Professor Romola Bucks and Associate Professor Rebecca Glauert is now working to ensure that the findings of the Raine Study remain secure, accessible and sustainable, now and in the future.
Funding provided by the Foundation will allow Prof. Bucks and Prof. Glauert’s team to future-proof the Raine Study’s collection of samples, under advisal from the Australian National Phenome Centre.
Their work will also facilitate further research by making it easier for scientists to discover and access the wealth of data gathered by the Raine Study over more than three decades.
Above all else, the partnership between the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation and the Raine Study will help ensure that one of Western Australia’s greatest medical achievements — an international treasure of health research — does not go to waste.
Published: 30 September 2022