A clinical trial led by researchers at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), the University of Adelaide and the Women’s and Children’s Hospital has been presented with the 2018 Australian Clinical Trials Alliance’s (ACTA) ‘Excellence in Trial Statistics’ award. The N3RO clinical trial investigated whether giving preterm infants born less than 29 weeks’ gestation an extra supply of the omega-3 docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) improves important respiratory outcomes associated with being born early.

The ACTA National Tribute and Awards Ceremony, held in celebration of International Clinical Trials Day, was established in 2016 to recognise and celebrate the outstanding achievements of ACTA members who advance clinical practice and save or improve the lives of patients every year through collaborative, multicentre, investigator-driven clinical trials.

The Aboriginal Family and Baby Bundles Research Study project led by perinatal epidemiologist Philippa Middleton will investigate ways of preventing obesity in pregnant Aboriginal women aged 18-24 in an effort to improve health outcomes for mothers and babies. Obesity has profound consequences for a woman’s health in pregnancy and later life, and increases the risk of poor birth outcomes.

As a follow up to our N3RO Trial (N-3 fatty acids for improvement in Respiratory Outcomes), which showed that giving extra omega 3 fats to babies born <29 weeks has no effect on chronic lung disease and may indeed increase risk, we are investigating what the important longer-term effects at 5-years of age of extra DHA in the first months of life for babies born 3 to 4 months prematurely by assessing the children’s mental development.

A clinical trial led by Associate Professor Carmel Collins and funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council. For further information please contact Jacqueline.Gould@sahmri.com

Dr Karen Best from our Child Nutrition Research Centre, SAHMRI Healthy Mothers Babies and Children talks about the importance of clinical trials and how she got into this research field.