Reproductive and cardio-metabolic health

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We are trying to find out how to improve the success of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) and make sure that women who have conceived by IVF or ‘naturally’ have a healthy pregnancy and birth.IVF is common. In an average school class of 30 children 1 will have been born by IVF. New ways of using IVF might improve success rates but they need to be carefully evaluated. Whether women conceive by IVF or naturally up to 40% will have one or more of pregnancy loss, high blood pressure or high blood sugar in pregnancy, a premature birth or an infant who is born unhealthily small or large. We do not know how to prevent these problems or predict which women will experience them.We will use data from very large studies and new methods that help us to determine causes from ‘confounders’ (factors that fool us into thinking that something is a cause when it is not). This will allow us to work out how to improve IVF and prevent pregnancy problems. It will also improve our understanding of what risk factors in pregnancy affect children’s risk of being obese or having diabetes or heart problems later in their lives.