Why Do Children Become Ill? One Of The World's Biggest Studies
The lives of more than 10,000 babies born in the city over the next three years will be tracked from pregnancy, through childhood, until they become adults.
Parents and grandparents will also be followed up as part of the study, enabling doctors to explore the causes of diabetes, heart disease, cancer and other major killers in today's society - and how they can be prevented.
The project was recently launched by its patron and recently installed Chancellor of the University of Bradford, Imran Khan.
By involving a community rich in cultural diversity such as Bradford, the project is the first of its kind in the world to research the impact of ethnicity on later health and educational development.
Starting from next summer, researchers will collate a wide range of information about babies born at Bradford Royal Infirmary as they grow up in a city with high levels of illness and disease. Mortality in Bradford is 6pc above the national average.
They will piece together a picture of each child by examining such factors as their genes, diet, lifestyle, schooling, neighbourhood, and upbringing to help the world of medicine understand - and prevent - the causes of childhood illnesses and adult diseases.
Professor John Wright, Director of Research and Development at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said the study - called "Born In Bradford" - would put the city on the international research map.
"Not since chemotherapy was pioneered in this city more than 50 years ago has there been a research project of this scale or importance," he said. "It will equip us with the information to discover how and why some children fall ill, while others do not."
"In 20 years' time, we will have witnessed a whole generation growing up in the city. We will be able to find out why some children grow up being healthy and well balanced, and why many others - through chance - become sick, and why their parents become sick.
"By pinpointing the causes of disease, we will have the key to not only improving the health of Bradford people, but also the health of others around the country and across the world."
Professor Neil Small from the University of Bradford's Division of Primary Care, is one of the lead researchers on the project. He said: "This study provides a unique opportunity to involve local communities and get the whole of Bradford involved in ground-breaking medical research. This will not be a group of scientists doing research in a laboratory but a whole city engaged in, and excited by, research.
"Our city provides a unique backdrop for conducting research that will provide findings that will benefit the health and well-being of everyone for generations to come.
"The study will improve the ways that health, education and social services work together to deliver care, providing a legacy for Bradford that will last 30 or 40 years and raise the profile of the city far beyond the UK."
A £1m community fund-raising appeal is being launched to help support the estimated £3m cost of the study, which has already attracted significant financial backing and interest from the Department of Health and the European Commission. The project is being coordinated by the newly-formed Bradford Health Academy, a newly formed partnership involving Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust; Bradford's primary care trusts; and the universities of Bradford and Leeds, with support from Bradford Council, Bradford Health and Equality Action Team, and Bradford Vision.
An academic team of leading international researchers from a number of UK universities - including Bradford, Leeds, Bristol, Edinburgh and Loughborough and - is also backing the programme.
UNIVERSITY OF BRADFORD
Bradford
West Yorkshire
BD7 1DP
UK
bradfordhospitals.nhs.uk/bradford_babies.asp
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