Mater-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy

Thank you to all who continue to participate in MUSP!

The next phase of the study will be commencing soon - 42-years since the study began. This phase of the study will be following-up with our Mother cohort - the original participants of our study. 

Contact us - we would love to hear from you!   

One of the challenges of conducting research over such a long time span is that we lose contact with our valuable participants. Please update your details so that we can keep in touch:

• Please update your details here (clicking on this link will take you to a contact form);

• Call us on 1800 718 290 or send a text to 0436 325 850; 

• Send an email to Musp30@uq.edu.au.

If you have moved since we last contacted you it would be great if you could let us know.

Thank you to all mothers who enrolled in the Mater-University Study of Pregnancy (also called the Child Health Study) while attending clinic visits at the Mater Misercordiae Hospital between 1981 and 1984. We greatly appreciate your continued participation in the study, as well as the cooperation we have received from your children in allowing us to follow their progress since birth.

On this page, you will find a number of sections explaining different aspects of the study. Please read on to find out about the following:

• The purpose of research
• Why your participation is important 
• Who is in the study?
• Previous phases of the study
• Some findings from the study
• International Collaboration (M20)
• Frequently asked questions

The purpose of research

Research in the health area is of vital importance to the community. Participation in such research by people like you allows researchers to study how physical and social characteristics relate to health. The evidence is then passed onto health and government agencies so that actions or policies can be developed to improve the health of people generally. The assistance that people like you provide to researchers like us, enables this process to happen.

Why your participation is important

This is the only large Australian study to have monitored the health of mothers and their children over many years. For mothers this period spans the time of their pregnancy through to mid-life. For their children, it starts from before birth, through childhood and adolescence and into adulthood. For their grand-children, this spans their childhood and into adulthood. 

Your continued support means that we are able to follow changes in health over the life span and across generations. It also allows us to examine numerous relationships between what happens at one stage of life and outcomes at later stages. It is very important that we keep as many people as possible in the study, so that we can continue to examine these relationships.

 Phases of the study

1981-1984 Birth - Initial phase  

8,556 women entered the study at their first clinic visit at the Mater Misericordiae Hospital

Over the 3 years 6703 mothers gave birth to a total of 7,223 live single babies .

59 mothers gave birth to twins, and 1 mother gave birth to triplets. 

Mothers' ages ranged between 13 and 46 years old;  the average age was 24 years.

73% of mothers were married, around 12% were in defacto relationships, and 13% were single, divorced/separated, or widowed.

Around 72% of mothers were born in Australia, nearly 10% in the United Kingdom, over 4% in New Zealand, nearly 3% in South East Asia, and another 8.5% in the Mediterranean, Southern Europe, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Pacific Islands, and other parts of the world.

Of all the children born, 52% were boys and 48% were girls.

During the first years of the study, there were 3 phases of data collection:

1. Before the birth - mothers were enrolled in the study and completed questionnaires

2. 3-5 days after the birth - mothers completed questionnaires

3. 6 months after the birth - mothers completed questionnaires about themselves and their children

5-year Follow-up - 1986

5 years after the birth - mothers completed questionnaires about themselves and their children. Children were given a brief assessment of their physical development and reading ability.      

5,360 mother and child pairs remained in the study.

MUSP14 - 1995

14 years after the birth - mothers completed questionnaires about themselves and their children. Teenagers completed questionnaires about themselves.    

5,270 mother and child pairs remained in the study.

MUSP21 - 2002

21 years after the birth - mothers and children completed separate questionnaires about themselves only. Both completed a physical assessment.

3,691 mothers and 3,778 children remained in the study.

MUSP27 - 2009 to 2012

27 years after the birth - mother completed questionnaires about themselves only and also completed a physical and mental health assessment.  

3671 mothers were interviewed. 

MUSP30 - 2011 to 2014

30 years after the birth - MUSP cohort children, now young adults, completed questionnaires about themselves, undertook blood tests, and a physical and mental health assessment.

Generation 3 - Children of the Children - 2016 to 2018

35 years after the birth - For the first time we recruit the third generation of participants, the Grand-children of our Mothers. During this phase we were interested in investigating the natural history of mental health and overweight status across three generations from grandparents to parents and then to the childhood and adolescent period of grandchildren. We were particularly interested in the child’s/children’s general health, their developmental stages, physical (e.g. height, weight), mental and emotional health. Children 9yo+ (Gen 3), parents (Gen 2) and the other biological parent completed questionnaires. All children 2yo and older provided a saliva sample and undertook a physical assessment. 

The next phase of the study...

40 years after the birth - In 2021 the next phase of the study will commence. Again we will follow-up with the MUSP cohort of children (Gen 2) and their children (Gen 3) to investigate the incidence and experiences of childhood victimisation in Australia. Parents and children will be asked to complete questionnaires.

Some findings from the study...

Availability of Patient Information

We found that in the 1980s, obstetricians did not realise how much information mothers wanted from them. As a result of our study, Brisbane hospitals made sure that mothers were given more information during consultations.

Low Income

Mothers with low family income from the time before birth up to the child's fifth birthday use health services more and have children with more colds, asthma attacks, ear infections, vomiting, bronchitis, accidental injuries and poorer teeth.

Marital Conflict and Partner Changes

Many people worry about the possible effects of separation, divorce, and single parenthood on children. In our study, we found that children whose parents argue a lot are more likely to have behaviour problems than children of single, divorced, or separated mothers. Children of single mothers were found to do as well as children whose mothers were married.

Depression in Mothers

Most mothers seem to experience "baby blues" after the birth of their baby, but these periods do not continue for a long time and are not the same as a major depression. Many of the mothers who find themselves depressed when their child is 5 years, have been depressed at other times in their lives.

Smoking

Mothers who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to have babies with low birthweight than mothers who don't smoke.

International Collaboration (M20)

The year after the 14-year follow-up, Professor Connie Hammen from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Professor Patricia Brennan from Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, began a collaborative research relationship with the MUSP Principal Investigators. Professors Hammen and Brennan began an additional study of just 816 of the MUSP families (known as M20) so that they could conduct in-depth interviews with mothers, fathers, and children during 2001 through to 2003.

Frequently asked questions

Was I (mother or child) chosen for this study because I'm different to other people?

This study is what is known as a "population study". It has not targeted any special group of people. The "children" of this study are those born to women who enrolled in the study when they attended their first antenatal clinic visit at the Mater Hospital. ALL mothers-to-be attending these clinics between 1981 and 1984 were invited to participate.

Are my answers kept confidential?

All information provided to the project is stored under code numbers. No names are attached to any of the information collected from participants. Keeping confidentiality is the project's highest priority. We are not interested in any individual's answers. Our job is to look for patterns in health among a very large group of people by finding the percentages of people experiencing particular conditions or circumstances.

Why is it important that I stay with the study?

You are part of a study that has tracked the health and well-being of mothers and their children over a 30-year period. Few studies in the world have collected health, growth, and development information on a large population of children, together with health and social information on their mothers at the same point in time, over such a long period. The assistance given by participants at various phases means that the project is able to examine factors occurring at one stage that might influence later health outcomes. To do this, we need your help at each follow-up so we can continue to check for patterns in health among the large group of people that makes up the MUSP study.

Contact Details:

Professor Jake Najman (Principal Investigator - MUSP)

Shelby Marrington (Project Manager)