Cohort Profile: The Mater-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy (MUSP)

How did the study come about? At the initiative of three hospital-based obstetricians one of the authors (JMN) and another sociologist attended a 1978 meeting to explore the potential for collaborative research. No specific project was proposed by the obstetricians. Two of the obstetricians had been trained in Scotland; one in Aberdeen where he had had some familiarity with the work of obstetrician Dugald Baird and sociologist Raymond Illsely. The obstetricians argued for an agenda which was clinically oriented. The two sociologists were more focussed on understanding how some social constructs (e.g. social class) might be relevant to explaining health outcomes. The initial year of the study was characterised by frequent (at least weekly) meetings at which the aims and substance of the proposed study were debated vigorously. As an initial decision the team focused on factors associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. The first major project was to be a 3-5 year longitudinal study of pregnant women which would include a 6-month child post-natal follow-up as the main outcome of interest

Bias influencing maternal reports of child behaviour and emotional state

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Cohort profile update: The mater-university of queensland study of pregnancy (MUSP)

The Mater-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy (MUSP) and its outcomes began in 1981 with data collected on 7223 pregnant woman-child pairs (6753 mothers, of whom 520 had 2 study children, less 50 who had multiple births). These women, and their children, were initially followed for up to 21 years. Since then there have been additional follow-ups of the mothers (27 years) and their children (30 years). There has also been a substantial increase in the breadth of topics addressed, with the collection of biological samples, the administration of structured clinical assessments of mental health and cognitive capacity, and markers of physical health such as lung function and blood pressure. MUSP was originally developed as a birth cohort study. It has become a longitudinal study of growth, development and ageing with an emphasis on the generational transmission of a wide range of factors impacting on adult health outcomes. We welcome interest in our study; for study background and publications visit [www.socialscience.uq.edu.au/musp] or contact [[email protected]]