Investment in the earliest stages of life is increasingly recognised to improve health across the life-course, beginning with the health of parents before pregnancy, in embryonic life, through to infancy, childhood, and into adulthood. eLIXIR combines information from routine maternity and neonatal health records and blood samples at two acute NHS Trust hospitals, along with mental health and primary care data. The study is able to address relationships between maternal and child physical health, and to investigate interactions with mental health. Participants are predominantly residents of South London, in areas with high levels of deprivation and ethnic diversity.

The eLIXIR data-linkage project uses opt-out consent to collect routine maternity and neonatal clinical patient data (GSTT and KCH NHS Trusts), mental health data from the SLaM CRIS platform, and primary care data from the LDN platform, for those registered with a GP in Lambeth.

The eLIXIR biobank offers the opportunity to study the mechanisms of health and disease in our data-linkage population by collecting blood samples from mothers, with informed consent. We are building a unique bioresource that can be used to investigate the underlying biological processes involved in pregnancy and those influenced by environmental factors.

The eLIXIR team includes members King’s College London Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neurosciences (IoPPN), along with services users and patient representatives. See the full list.

The eLIXIR Born in South London project has now been successfully awarded a MRC Longitudinal Population Study Grant which will enable us to operate for the next 5 years and continue building this dynamic mother-child database.

For Participants 

Every woman attending antenatal care in our hospital trusts will automatically be included for use of their routine data and their babies’, unless they express a wish not to take part (a process called opt-out consent).

Please find more details on how to do so under ‘Your Data’ further down on this page.

In contrast to use of data, we will ask you in person for express permission to take an extra blood sample for eLIXIR research, when you attend your first antenatal appointment (fetal scan appointment) at GSTT. You will be approached by a member of our research team who will either contact you beforehand by telephone or email, or in-person at your appointment. If you kindly agree to take part, we will ask you to review and sign a consent form which gives your agreement to an extra sample being taken when you give your routine blood samples. This is two extra tubes of 6 ml each, just under a tablespoon of blood.

Your Data

We make every effort to ensure all women having their antenatal care at our hospitals are aware of the eLIXIR study. At GSTT, information is available on the BadgerNet Maternity app and at KCH, this is provided in form of a leaflet in the maternity booking pack.

If you have any questions or would want to have your or your baby’s health records removed from the data linkage, please contact, e: elixir@gstt.nhs.uk or t: 0773 816 8907, or write to: Lucilla Poston/ Tisha Dasgupta The eLIXIR, Born in South London Study, Department of Women and Children’s Health, 10th Floor, North Wing, St Thomas’ Hospital, London SE1 7EH

View our Project Privacy Policy for details on how we use your data and your data protection rights.