Over the last 10 years, researchers in the National University Health System, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, and A*STAR’s Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences have set up one of the most intensive birth cohorts in the world.

The GUSTO study is a major collaborative research effort involving academic partners across Singapore, as well as international researchers in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and other countries.

The purpose of the GUSTO study is to understand how conditions in pregnancy and early childhood influence the health and development of women and children.

Over the course of 2009 and 2010, the GUSTO researchers managed to recruit over 1200 Singaporean women who volunteered to be studied throughout their pregnancies and after they gave birth. The babies were followed very closely as they grew up. In the first 18 months of life, these young children were followed-up by researchers on up to 10 occasions, either at their homes or in the clinics. The children are now between 9 to 10 years old. Because of the detailed, longitudinal observations and samples collected from these mothers and children, GUSTO researchers have uncovered many important findings that will help us improve the health and potential of Singaporeans right from the start of life.