Yale University Reproductive Sciences Pregnancy Study (YURS-Pregnancy Study)

The purpose of this study in pregnant women is to:

1. Develop an integrated method of screening pregnancies to determine the risk of an adverse perinatal outcome.
2. Identify novel genetic and molecular markers for adverse perinatal outcomes. We plan to recruit 1,000 women over the course of 5 years.

The principal research question is to determine the ability of biochemical and ultrasonic markers to predict the likelihood of an adverse pregnancy outcome.. This project will lead to the eventual identification and development of new tests and tools to predict which women will have complicated pregnancies.

This study follows a protocol very similar to one completed recently at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Cambridge University, UK. The level of similarity will allow us to combine data and samples and improve predictions of more rare but devastating outcomes which characterize adverse outcomes of pregnancy.

Additionally, two similar studies could allow for external validation of identified findings and predictors. These biochemical and ultrasonic markers will then be used to predict the following adverse pregnancy outcomes:

1. Pre-eclampsia (PE)
2. Small for Gestational Age (SGA)
3. Spontaneous preterm birth (SPTB)
4. Stillbirth/Fetal Death
5. Neonatal Death