PRECISE-DYAD: linking maternal and infant health trajectories in sub-Saharan Africa 

PRECISE-DYAD extends the ongoing PRECISE study of pregnant women and their infants (dyads) in two sub-Saharan African countries, The Gambia and Kenya, especially after pregnancies complicated by high blood pressure, birth of a smaller-than-expected baby, stillbirth or premature birth.

We want to see if women who experience these events in pregnancy, or care for children with delayed brain development due to these events, experience similar complications in future pregnancies, have affected mental health, or increased risk of heart or respiratory disease or diabetes. We will also investigate the effect on children after these pregnancy complications and whether their physical and mental health and brain development is affected at two years of age. We will ask if these links are altered by social and environmental adversity, including environmental pollution.

Our database and bank of biological samples will help us design future preventive and treatment strategies.