This is just a sample of the research undertaken, papers published, and presentations given using Raine Study data from January-August 2021. It should also help give you an idea of the huge number of ways our participants’ ongoing involvement in the Raine Study’s research is helping science!
- Big data: We were excited to see the Raine Study included in the latest edition of the University of Western Australia‘s Uniview magazine. Our Scientific Director Bec Glauert was interviewed for a story on the challenges of analysing huge amounts of data and how that knowledge can be used to improve public health outcomes. In the case of the Raine Study, our databases are home to more than 30 years of data including over 70,000 measures and 20 million genetic variants on each of our participants. Read the story to find out more about how the Raine Study’s use of big data is turbo-charging our understanding of health across the human lifespan.
- High blood pressure: Researchers using your data from the Raine Study have shown that a hormone that can cause high blood pressure behaves differently in young men versus young women. This breakthrough study paves the way for improved early diagnosis and treatment of high blood pressure and related diseases, which will impact one in three Australian adults. Published in the journal Hypertension, the research was funded by the Heart Foundation and undertaken in collaboration with research teams in Victoria and Queensland. The University of Western Australia’s Professor Trevor Mori and Professor Lawrie Beilin played a key role in the design of the study– find out more on the Hudson Institute’s news page.
- Physical activity: Curtin University’s Professor Leon Straker (former Scientific Director of the Raine Study) spoke at the July seminar of the national Wellbeing Health & Youth centre of excellence for teenage health. He shared his findings based on Raine Study data showing how regular physical activity is a powerful influence on lifelong physical, mental, and social wellbeing.
- Reproductive health: The Raine Study Helps Give IVF Kids A Clean Bill Of Health: New research published in the medical journal Human Reproduction, using your data from the Raine Study, is being described as a major breakthrough in how we understand the long-term health implications for children born via IVF. The research team from the Raine Study’s UJV partner the Women & Infants Research Foundation, led by the University of Western Australia’s Professor Roger Hart and co-authored by the Raine Study’s Scientific Support Officer Blagica Penova-Velesinovic, found no difference in the health outcomes of a group of adolescents conceived by IVF compared with a group of naturally conceived similarly aged participants from the Raine Study. There was significant mainstream media pick-up of this story with coverage including The West Australian newspaper and Channel 7 News.
- Sleep disorders: Congratulations to University of Western Australia PhD candidate Kelly Sansom who was awarded the Raine Study PhD Top-Up Scholarship for 2021. Kelly is using the scholarship funding to progress her research into the connection between sleep-disordered breathing and cardiovascular disease, using your Raine Study data. Kelly presented at the Raine Study’s Annual Scientific Meeting in 2019 and 2020. We’ll have updates from Kelly and the progress she has made since being awarded the scholarship very soon.