Maternal Antecedents of Adiposity and Studying the Trans-generational role of Hyperglycaemia and Insulin, is a research study in the public hospitals of Bengaluru, Karnataka. The main aim is to study how the blood sugar levels in pregnant women affect children. Also, we are concerned with assessing the psychosocial environment of the mother and its influence on childhood outcomes.

From pregnancy till the early childhood of the baby; is an important stage of life because any variation in health status will affect later stages of life. If the mother is obese and diabetic during pregnancy, the child is at higher risk of becoming obese and diabetic in adulthood. Recent research supports this view and diseases such as diabetes and obesity have causes that act early in life. Despite the high incidence of diabetes within India, there are no nationwide and multi-centric studies conducted on the prevalence of diabetes and its complications. A large research study of pregnant women with long-term follow-up of their children has to be set up because we want to know the parental health status and its influence on their children and many of the exposures of interest cannot be studied in retrospect. MAASTHI is a birth cohort study being carried out at public hospitals. We have recruited ~3000 women early in pregnancy and have completed 4 years of follow up and aim to continue follow-up until adolescence.

“Ambient and indoor Air pollution in Pregnancy on the risk of Low birth weight and Ensuing Effects in Infants (APPLE): A prospective study done at the community level aiming to assess the association between exposure to ambient and indoor air pollution during pregnancy and low birth weight and subsequent risk of adiposity. We planned to recruit 516 pregnant women before 18weeks of gestation in the urban slums of Bengaluru. We will estimate the air pollution parameters like PM_2.5, PM_10, and CO twice during pregnancy. All the enrolled participants will be tested for haemoglobin and oral glucose tolerance test once they complete 24weeks of gestation. Follow-up of women and children will be done at delivery and annually until the infant is two years old. Infant anthropometry, feeding practices, and child development milestones will be assessed during follow-up visits. This study is funded by the National Network Programme on Human Health, Climate Change Programme-(SPLICE), Department of Science & Technology, Government of India.

Vision statement

Establish a birth cohort to explore health across generations.

Goals:

To explore the role of maternal physiological and psychosocial environment on their offsprings in later stages of life through follow-up of children and parents.

Specific aims:

• To understand how the health of parents influences fetal wellbeing and its association with various factors.
• To understand the feasibility of establishing a long-term birth cohort.
• To explore implementable interventions aimed at improving health outcomes in parents and children.
• To improve the follow-up visits of mothers and their infants by effective quality approach and interventions.
• To inform the policymakers with new modalities of interventions and inputs for improving the health of parents.

Background

Diabetes is a potential epidemic in India currently with more than 62 million individuals diagnosed with diabetes. Several factors affect the prevalence of diabetes and identification of those factors is necessary to facilitate the treatment and its prevention. There is a multitude of reasons for diabetes in India including genetic factors coupled with environmental influences such as obesity-associated with lifestyle, steady urban migration, and other lifestyle changes.

The National Urban Survey conducted across the metropolitan cities of India reported 12.4 percent of people in Bengaluru were afflicted with Diabetes. India stands third highest with 30 million obese individuals. There are several reasons for obesity in India including individual behavior like poor dietary habits, poor physical activity, sedentary lifestyle, and also genetic causes.

Advisory Board

In the MAASTHI Birth Cohort, researchers are guided by experts on how to conduct their research in conjunction with approval from the Ethical committee. The research team benefits greatly from advice from a diverse panel of individuals. The objective of the MAASTHI Birth Cohort Technical Advisory Committee is to serve as an advisory body to the Study regarding the scientific conduct of research. In addition, the study is approved by “Institutional Ethics Committee”

Research Milestones

• Nov 2013- Initiation of a pilot study at Banashankari Referral Hospital, Bengaluru
  • June 2014- Initiation of a pilot study at H Siddaiah Road Referral Hospital, Bengaluru
  • April 2016- Study initiation at Jayanagar General Hospital, Bengaluru
  • December 2017-Study initiation at Srirampur Referral Hospital
  • March 2018- Study initiation at Baglur health center and DJ Halli Maternity Hospital
  • June 2019: Completion of baseline recruitment