Growing Up in Singapore Towards Healthy Outcomes — GUSTO  

Metabolic Diseases Clinical Trial

Official title: Metabolic Health in Asian Women and Their Children

Status Active, not recruiting

Clinical Trial Summary

This study aims to test the following hypotheses in women recruited in early pregnancy and whose children will be followed up till at least 14 years of age.

• Epigenetic changes in conceptual tissues obtained at birth reflect the environment that the fetus was exposed to during development.

• The pattern of epigenetic marks in gene promoters obtained from DNA in birth tissues, together with genotype, phenotype, and environmental exposures, can be utilized to assess how the perinatal environment affects subsequent metabolic, neurodevelopmental and other phenotypes.

Clinical Trial Description

The dramatic emergence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Asia has coincided with the rapid socioeconomic and nutritional transition taking place in the region, with the prevalence of diabetes rising five-fold in Singapore in less than four decades. One unique aspect of the epidemic has been the significant ethnic differences in predisposition to diabetes among Asians and in the ethnic variation between BMI and the risk of developing insulin resistance, a precursor to type 2 diabetes. Apart from genetic factors, dietary, lifestyle and cultural factors might have influenced the developmental programming through effects on the mechanisms associated with developmental plasticity. A center piece of this study is to examine how epigenetic changes at birth both reflects past developmental influences and, in association with other factors, influences future trajectories of development and its relationship to NCDs. Also factors active during childhood - especially the first 1000 days of life - will be focused upon.

The longitudinal GUSTO birth cohort study allows us to examine associations among genetic, environmental and lifestyle interactions in the three distinct ethnic groups, Chinese, Malays and Indians, present in the Singaporean population.

Participants have been followed up for their pregnancy outcome, fetal growth and offspring development for over a decade. Participants will continue to be followed up as the children enter into the pubertal phase from the age of 10 to 14 years.

Data will be collected through questionnaires and clinical measurements. The questionnaires include socio-economic factors, maternal and child's diet, medical histories, behavioural, cognition, lifestyle factors, health status, and home environment. Bio-physical measurements will be obtained from anthropometric measurements of participants, human biological materials such as blood, buccal swabs, saliva, hair, urine, stool, oral specimen such as exfoliated milk teeth, dental plaque and tongue biofilms are collected from the participants (mother / father / child where applicable) at their follow-up time points with the GUSTO cohort upon their consent. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Metabolic Diseases
• Neurological and Mental Health Conditions

• NCT number: NCT01174875
• Study type: Observational
• Source: National University Hospital, Singapore
• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Start date: June 2009
• Completion date: July 2029