Study to discover babies’ risk of becoming overweight

The study team has developed a user friendly, multimedia computer programme called ProAsk (Proactive Assessment of Overweight Risk during Infancy). ProAsk uses data based on questions answered by parents and carers to determine how likely it is a baby will develop a weight problem when they are older, compared to other babies.  

Questions are based on identified risk factors such as parental weight and lifestyle during pregnancy, baby’s birth weight and growth, which research has shown increase the risk of a baby becoming overweight as they get older. During home visits, health visitors will ask parents to enter this information into the programme which will be delivered via a tablet computer.

The study will examine whether parents and carers find ProAsk helpful and whether health visitors can use the results to tailor their advice to parents, who can explore possible ways to help keep their babies at a healthy weight.  

Sarah Redsell, Professor of Public Health at Anglia Ruskin, is the principal investigator for the study. She said: “Children who are above a healthy weight are more likely to be ill and have time off school. Being very overweight in childhood can also sow the seeds for health problems in later life such as heart disease and diabetes.  

“One approach is to try and intervene early in life. The information we get from this study will help us understand whether or not parents/carers would like to know about this risk, and if so whether health visitors can work with them to help them understand how they might lower the risk for their baby.”

The project will be carried out in Nottingham and Cambridgeshire with Cris Glazebrook, Professor of Health Psychology at the University of Nottingham, as principal investigator for the Nottingham site.  Nottingham City Care Partnership and Cambridge Community Services NHS Trust have agreed to work with Anglia Ruskin together with the Universities of Nottingham, Lincoln and Cambridge on the 18-month study, which is funded by the Medical Research Council.  The ProAsk digital tool is being developed by the Health e-Learning and Media (HELM) group based in the School of Health Sciences at Nottingham.


For more information on the ProAsk project, visit www.anglia.ac.uk/eppoc


The Medical Research Council is at the forefront of scientific discovery to improve human health. Founded in 1913 to tackle tuberculosis, the MRC now invests taxpayers’ money in some of the best medical research in the world across every area of health. Thirty-one MRC-funded researchers have won Nobel prizes in a wide range of disciplines, and MRC scientists have been behind such diverse discoveries as vitamins, the structure of DNA and the link between smoking and cancer, as well as achievements such as pioneering the use of randomised controlled trials, the invention of MRI scanning, and the development of a group of antibodies used in the making of some of the most successful drugs ever developed. Today, MRC-funded scientists tackle some of the greatest health problems facing humanity in the 21st century, from the rising tide of chronic diseases associated with ageing to the threats posed by rapidly mutating micro-organisms. www.mrc.ac.uk  

 
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For more press information please contact:
Jon Green on t: 0845 196 4717, e: jon.green@anglia.ac.uk
Jamie Forsyth on t: 0845 196 4716, e: jamie.forsyth@anglia.ac.uk

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