City's 'world-beating' study awarded £5.2m grant

Scientists working on a world-leading study have received £5.2m to continue their unique research for another five years.

The Bristol-based Children of the 90s project began by tracking 14,500 children born in between 1991 and 1992.

It is the most detailed project of its kind in the world and has led to discoveries in all aspects of health and wellbeing from eczema, bodyweight and cancer.

Prof Nic Timpson, the study's principal investigator, said: "Routinely we have researchers coming from all over the world using the resource and building on it to do their own research."

The grant, from the University of Bristol, the Medical Research Council and the global charitable foundation, Wellcome, will allow researchers to continue collecting and analysing health data from their participants, which has risen to more than 25,000 people.

Prof Jean Golding OBE, now 85, began the study "with a few pennies and a prayer".

Staff worked on month-to-month contracts, and it took years before large research bodies appreciated the importance of what the team was doing.

She previously told the BBC: "The amount of information we've got now is world-beating, nobody's got anything like it. And as a result all sorts of different scientists can answer questions that can't be answered any other way."

Information collected by the Children of the 90s study has contributed to more than 3,000 medical papers and informed policy and childcare advice worldwide.

Being able to track the health of the children, and now grandchildren of the original 14,500 mothers who signed up has given researchers unprecedented insight into a range of conditions.

Discoveries have also been made in child development, autism, mental health and pregnancy.

Prof Timpson added: "Strangely enough, the funding for the next five years sounds like a lot of money, but it's a drop in the ocean in terms of the resources that are generated because of Children of the 90s.

"Looking forward, we will continue studying the factors that shape our health across diverse areas such as genetics, fertility, obesity, child development and the effect of climate on health and wellbeing," he added.

One of the largest areas of research has been into lung disease - the third leading cause of death in the UK.

More than 6,500 participants took part and there have been some significant findings.

Clinical lead, Prof James Dodd, said: "We can see that lung function problems start much earlier in life than we thought.

"We've been measuring lung function in Children of the 90s since the age of eight.

"There are certain things that we hadn't expected; so early-life factors like poorly-controlled asthma, premature birth and exposure to air pollution, all affect your risk of developing lung problems."

Melissa Davis has been involved in numerous studies since her mother enrolled in the study more than 30 years ago - and now her own children are signed up.

"I had Hodgkin's lymphoma, which is a type of cancer, when I was 12 years old and and again when I was 27.

"As a result, some of the treatments have left some underlying lung and heart defects," she explained.

Medical data that Ms Davis volunteered to share has enabled further understanding of the condition.

"I think you can really relate to it when you know that some of the information you provided has gone into making those breakthroughs and the outcomes for other people," she said.

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