Women visiting Southampton Balloon and Flower Festival next weekend will get the chance to sign up to help in a pioneering study that could influence future public health policy worldwide. Six thousand women have so far been recruited to the Southampton Women’s Survey. This unique project is expected to produce important findings both on women’s health and also the effects of diet and lifestyle on the development and future health of their babies. The aim is to sign up all 20,000 women aged 20-34 in the city by the end of next year. Survey co-ordinator Dr Hazel Inskip said: “No-one has ever carried out a survey of this size and kind before. “This is truly ground-breaking work that will provide a huge amount of information over many years that will contribute to improving the health of women and their children.”
An in-depth interview covering diet and lifestyle is carried out with all women signing up to the groundbreaking project. Interviews are carried out in each woman’s home at a time to suit her. In a second part of the Survey, women who become pregnant are offered ultrasound scans at the Princess Anne Hospital at 11, 19 and 34 weeks. Information gathered before and during pregnancy and during the first three years of the baby’s life will shed more light on the link between a mother’s lifestyle and the development and future health of her child.
The Medical Research Council funded survey is being led by its Environmental Epidemiology Unit based at the University of Southampton. The unit has revolutionised medical thinking by establishing a firm link between the health and nutrition of the foetus and the development of adult disease such as diabetes, stroke and heart disease. Some women taking part in SWS will also be asked to take part in related research projects looking at women’s mental health and at the way allergies such as asthma and bone disease can develop in the womb and during infancy.
Dr Inskip added: “At the end of this we want to be able to put together recommendations for government on what women should be eating if they are thinking about getting pregnant.” “We will also have plenty of evidence on how employment, childcare responsibilities, family life, patterns of exercise and housing influence diet and body weight and so affect women’s health through life.” “It may be that to ensure equity of access to good health women on low incomes will need extra practical and financial help to benefit from a healthy diet.”
Members of the SWS team are manning a tent at the Balloon and Flower Festival being held on Southampton Common from Friday, June 30, to Sunday July 2.