The Heartland Study

Launched by HEARTLAND HEALTH RESEARCH ALLIANCE · Aug 5, 2022

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

The Heartland Study is an important research project aimed at understanding how exposure to herbicides—chemicals used to kill unwanted plants—affects the health of pregnant individuals and their babies. The study will include up to 2,600 pregnant women living in 13 states in the Midwest, including places like Illinois and Indiana. Researchers want to learn about the potential connections between herbicide exposure during and after pregnancy and various health outcomes for both the mother and child. They will collect samples to measure levels of herbicides and look at how these exposures might influence pregnancy, childbirth, and child development.

To participate in this study, you need to be a pregnant person aged 18 or older, currently between 6 weeks and 20 weeks of pregnancy, and living in one of the participating states. It's best to enroll during the first trimester, but enrollment is open until 20 weeks. Unfortunately, if you're not comfortable reading or speaking English, or if you're unable to give informed consent, you wouldn't be eligible for this study. As a participant, you can expect to provide some health information and samples, helping researchers gain valuable insights that could improve maternal and infant health in the future.

Gender

FEMALE

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • Pregnant persons ages 18 or older at time of consent who are ≤20+6 weeks pregnant. Best clinical estimate of gestational age will be utilized for recruitment purposes. Enrollment in the first trimester (≤ 13 + 6) is preferred, but anyone ≤ 20 +6 is permitted.
• • Living in one of the 13 Heartland Study region states at the time of enrollment (Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, or Wisconsin) Optional inclusion of the putative biological father
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • Participants who are not fluent in and/or do not fully understand, read, write, or speak the English language.
• • Other inability to provide informed consent to participate