Born in Bradford

What is Born in Bradford? Born in Bradford is one of the largest research studies in the World, tracking the lives of over 30,000 Bradfordians to find out what influences the health and wellbeing of families. We use our findings to develop new and practical ways to work with families and health professionals to improve the health and wellbeing of our communities. What we do Our mission is simple: to conduct rigorous and applied health research that improves the health and wellbeing of families in Bradford and beyond. Our research falls into three key areas. You can find more about our studies on these pages. The Born in Bradford Study The Born in Bradford study is tracking the health and wellbeing of over 13,500 children, and their parents born at Bradford Royal Infirmary between March 2007 and December 2010. The health of these children is being tracked from pregnancy through childhood and into adult life. Studying children from before birth is a powerful way of understanding the many influences that shape our lives. We have been able to include how our parents and our wider family, our genes, the way we choose to live, the local environment, the services we access come together to affect our health and well-being. The information collected from our Born in Bradford families is being used to find the causes of common childhood illnesses, conditions and to explore the mental and social development of this new generation. We now starting to follow-up all the Born in Bradford families to see how their lives have changed since pregnancy. We are doing this through BiB: Growing Up and the Primary School Years projects. Better Start Bradford Innovation Hub As part of the Better Start Bradford Innovation Hub we are host to the world’s first experimental from birth study: ‘Born in Bradford’s Better Start’. This part of our research started recruiting in 2016 and aims to recruit 5000 families living in selected areas of Bradford to see the impact of early life interventions on the health and wellbeing of mothers and children. Catalyst for change Using the findings from our studies we have developed a range of additional research projects which are evaluating and developing new interventions to improve health, for example focusing on reducing childhood obesity, increasing physical activity, improving oral health and improving mental wellbeing. Thank-you to Parents & Children Born in Bradford is not possible without the enthusiasm and support of our families. You are part of one of the largest family studies in the UK, and the information we collect from you helps us understand what keeps families healthy and happy. Our findings are used locally, nationally, and internationally to help improve the health and wellbeing of communities. By being a part of Born in Bradford you are contributing to something really special. Thank you so much for your continued support. We hope you enjoy reading about our research on this website, and hope to see you at one of our family events soon. We also want to hear from you! You can contact us on facebook and twitter, or email us at borninbradford@bthft.nhs.uk . The Born in Bradford Charter Born in Bradford will: learn why most families are healthy and happy but some are not use what we learn to help plan ways to improve health and wellbeing for people in Bradford and elsewhere ask families to share with us information on how they live, where they live and all the other things that might make a difference to their health and wellbeing share what we learn with families to help them improve their lives and the lives of their children as they grow from babies to adults lead activities to support families and their children as they grow and improve their lives work with community groups, health professionals and other services so that we can all make Bradford a better and healthier place to grow up for all families Born in Bradford is helping to unravel the reasons for the high level of childhood illness in the UK and bring new scientific discovery to the world.