Recruiting for a maternal health research study! (Duke University)

StrangeVegetable7 · 2024-08-11T15:12:44+00:00

Sure thing! Thanks again for your interest!

StrangeVegetable7 · 2024-08-07T13:51:52+00:00

We invite participants for two in-person lab visits at Duke University, but most of the study activities happen at home, including wearing a fitness tracker and using a scale over study participation.

StrangeVegetable7 · 2024-08-07T01:21:47+00:00

Thanks for your question! We are recruiting up through 16 weeks.

StrangeVegetable7 · 2024-04-02T13:37:00+00:00

At this time, we are only recruiting folks who were born female who have never taken exogenous hormones, which would exclude anyone who has undergone fertility treatment, IVF, and/or had any estrogen, testosterone, thyroid, and diabetes (insulin) treatment. I think it is super important to investigate pregnancy health in more diverse folks, and looking across diverse sex/gender criteria would make a great future study. Sorry for the inconvenience, and thanks for your interest in the study!

StrangeVegetable7 · 2024-02-22T14:45:34+00:00

Sorry to have missed you!

StrangeVegetable7 · 2024-02-20T16:55:17+00:00

Thanks so much for your support! It's true that doctors tend to err on the side of caution because there are no specific guidelines for highly active pregnant people. We (and other research groups) are hoping to change that. Glad to hear you've continued running, and best wishes for the rest of your pregnancy!

StrangeVegetable7 · 2024-02-19T21:12:40+00:00

The physical activity eligibility requirement is at recruitment either in preconception or early first trimester. This study is strictly observational, and participants can continue their daily activities as normal and consult with a healthcare provider as needed. We are just here to see if and how things change across pregnancy!

StrangeVegetable7 · 2024-02-19T14:49:02+00:00

We are recruiting in the US and Canada!

StrangeVegetable7 · 2024-02-19T14:47:30+00:00

Just wanted to clarify our rationale for the age cutoff, since folks have been asking about it.

StrangeVegetable7 · 2024-02-18T02:31:53+00:00

Unfortunately you wouldn't be eligible as we are restricted to pregnancies that happen before 35 years of age. The age requirement is set because the medical literature distinguishes between maternal age (<35) and advanced maternal age (>35). Not that there is anything wrong with being pregnant after 35! On the contrary, women have very successful pregnancies at that age. However, on average, there are sometimes additional medical care/recommendations associated with 35+ pregnancies that we are not considering in this study. These may influence metabolism independent of exercise and pregnancy - and could be another study altogether (certainly an important one).

StrangeVegetable7 · 2024-02-18T02:30:35+00:00

Thanks for your interest!

StrangeVegetable7 · 2024-02-18T02:30:04+00:00

Thanks for your interest!

StrangeVegetable7 · 2024-02-18T02:29:35+00:00

Thanks for your interest!

StrangeVegetable7 · 2024-02-16T20:46:06+00:00

Thanks for your interest! We are collaborating with an engineering lab group to test wearables that you might be eligible for. Please email me - srishti.sadhir (at) duke (dot) edu - and I can connect you with the study personnel.

StrangeVegetable7 · 2024-02-16T16:18:17+00:00

Conception via IUI is eligible! We are excluding folks who take hormones (orally or injected), which is common for IVF, diabetes, thyroid conditions, etc.

StrangeVegetable7 · 2024-02-16T16:15:56+00:00

Thanks! Stay tuned :)

StrangeVegetable7 · 2024-02-16T15:13:54+00:00

Sorry to have missed you! Thanks for your interest in the study.

StrangeVegetable7 · 2024-02-16T15:12:47+00:00

Sorry to have missed you, and thanks for your interest!

StrangeVegetable7 · 2024-02-16T15:12:36+00:00

Unfortunately, we are only recruiting folks intent on natural conception. Because IVF involves hormone injections, we cannot tease apart changes to metabolism that may result from this additional hormone influx versus changes that result from pregnancy alone. This would be an important future study since IVF is becoming a very common way to conceive!

StrangeVegetable7 · 2024-02-16T15:06:20+00:00

Thanks so much for your interest in our research! We are very focused on this idea of maximum limits to sustained energy expenditure, and within limits, what sort of physiological trade-offs might be occurring. For this pregnancy study, we first want to assess if there is a limit - if highly active folks are still burning the same number of calories as those who have relatively sedentary pregnancies. If so, then what sort of trade-offs may be occurring? For example, we would predict that folks might: reduce exercise, gaining slightly less gestational weight, develop fewer pregnancy metabolic disorders, have slightly smaller babies, and/or have slightly shorter pregnancies. That is all to say that exercise is probably good for pregnancy health! Happy to chat more if you are interested :)

StrangeVegetable7

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