a unique look at how a woman’s social life, level of fitness and exercise, food intake, family life and even housing arrangements affects her own health, and how will it affect the health of her children
What we are doing?
People’s diets, lifestyles and health have changed dramatically in recent years, but little is known about the effects of many of these changes on an individual’s health and well-being.
How do your lifestyle, size, shape and diet (both before and during pregnancy) affect you and your baby’s health? The Southampton Women’s Survey aims to answer these questions. It is also taking a unique look at how a woman’s social life, level of fitness and exercise, food intake, family life and even housing arrangements affects her own health, and how will it affect the health of her children.
To tackle a research project of this size, we have a large network of staff. As well as those in the front line, such as research nurses, midwives, and those who make the appointments, we have support from computing staff, clerical and research assistants, dietitians and nutritionists, scanners, laboratory staff, statisticians, scientists and doctors. Our department is based on two sites, Southampton General Hospital and at Princess Anne Hospital.
Funding and Acknowledgements
The Southampton Women’s Survey is grateful for the support of the University of Southampton, the UK Medical Research Council, and the study could not have been possible without funding from the Dunhill Medical Trust, the British Heart Foundation, the Food Standards Agency, the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) EarlyNutrition project under grant agreement n° 289346 and the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre. Funding for some of the additional studies has come from the National Osteoporosis Society, the British Lung Foundation, Sport Aiding Medical Research for Kids, the BUPA Foundation, Cancer Research UK and the Arthritis Research UK. We are also indebted to the hard-working research nurses who have collected all this information, and all the other members of the team, as well as doctors and midwives in Southampton.
Most importantly, thanks go to all the SWS women, their partners, parents and children who have taken part to date, and continue to give of their time and energy to support our research project.
Publications
If you would like to read more about any of our research, click on the link below to take you to the MRC LEC research centre website at the University of Southampton. There you will find a list of all papers published by members of the Unit, including those about the Southampton Women’s Survey.