The Raine Study: A Valuable Resource for Researchers
- Establishment: The Raine Study began in 1989 in Perth, Western Australia.
- Multigenerational: It’s one of the world’s largest and most successful longitudinal studies, following participants from before birth throughout their lives.
- Research Focus: The study explores genetics, environment, and developmental outcomes, providing valuable evidence on health and disease origins from pregnancy to adulthood and beyond.
- Empowering Research: As custodians, we facilitate access to this valuable dataset for innovative research initiatives.
To learn more about our history go to the About Us page.
From Pregnancy to Parenthood
The Raine Study is not just a snapshot in time; it’s a living timeline of the developmental origins of health and disease from pregnancy into adulthood, spanning four generations:
Gen1: The Biological Parents
The Gen1 biological parents initially recruited during pregnancy have been indirectly involved across 12 follow-up studies and assessed for essential demographic, sociodemographic, and anthropometric health parameters relating to the Gen2 participants. In 2016, they were recruited for the first follow-up which focused solely on their health and social wellbeing, independent of their Gen2 child.
Gen2: The Original Raine Study Babies
Born into the study, Gen2 participants have completed 17 follow-ups from infancy into adolescence and now adulthood. They have been comprehensively phenotyped through questionnaires, clinical parameters, and data on genetics, such as GWAS, exomes, telomeres, and epigenetic profiles are available.
Gen3: The Children of Gen2
Gen3 are the biological children of Gen2, offering new insights into the continuity of factors influencing health across multiple generations. Recruitment of Gen3 began in 2024, investigating genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors associated with health, disease, wellbeing and development.
Gen2B: The Other Biological Parents of Gen3
Gen2B participants are currently being recruited into the Raine Study. They are the biological parents of Gen3 that were not born into the Raine Study. Their sociodemographic, anthropometric, and genetic information will further enrich the dataset with a comprehensive familial perspective.
Gen0: The Biological Grandparents
Gen0 represents the biological grandparents of Gen2. Limited data has been collected as part of specialised sub-studies.
Follow Ups
Data and Biosamples Collection and Follow-Ups
The Raine Study’s strength lies in its longitudinal study design, and meticulous data collection spanning 30+ years, establishing it as one of the most comprehensive pregnancy and birth cohort studies worldwide. The main cohort, Gen2 have completed 17 follow-ups over the past 30 years. Their parents, Gen1, were indirectly involved in 12 follow-ups and attended 1 independent follow-up focusing on their health and social wellbeing. Each follow-up includes questionnaires and validated assessment tools, physical assessments, and matched biological samples/measures for contextual relevance. Biological samples encompass antenatal maternal blood, cord blood, milk teeth, blood, serum, plasma, saliva, urine, stool samples and DNA.
Generations Follow Up
April 2023 marked the commencement of the 18th follow-up for the Gen2 cohort and 2nd targeted follow-up for Gen1. It is the largest data collection to date: the ‘Generations follow-up’- inviting both Gen1 and Gen2 participants for assessment over the next three years. This is the first time the Raine Study has conducted two cohort studies simultaneously. With further funding secured from the Telethon7 Trust we have begun the recruitment of Gen3, the children of the Gen2 participants and their other biological parent (Gen2B).
Collection of Core Measures
In the Generations follow-up we are collecting the “core measures”: data and biological measures habitually collected during the major follow-ups. This allows us to improve the accuracy and consistency of the historically collected data and add value to the rich dataset, a critical resource for medical research that has enabled ground breaking discoveries and influenced health policies. The core measures include:
- Comprehensive anthropometric measures including DEXA scan for complete body composition and lateral vertebral assessments.
- Cognitive function analyses via CogState.
- Activity and sleep assessment utilising SENS accelerometer device and Withings sleep analyser.
- Series of questionnaires including validated instruments, medical history questionnaire, and dietary history questionnaire.
- Matched biological samples (whole blood, urine) for contextual relevance.
The full list of core data/measures being collected from Gen1 and Gen2 can be accessed here.
Next step
Explore the application process on the Project Application process to access our invaluable dataset, unlocking potential for ground-breaking research.
Study Registration
The Raine Study is registered in the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry.
Trial ID: ACTRN12617001599369.