SHAPES

SHAPES stands for Study of How Adiposity in Pregnancy has an Effect on outcomeS

Background to SHAPES

Adiposity is a term used to describe the amount and location of fat tissue in the body. Adiposity is measured in a variety of ways, for example using ultrasound scans or measuring the size of someone’s waist using a tape measure. Research shows that high amounts of adiposity around and above the waist can lead to some health conditions, for example Type 2 Diabetes. However, there is a lack of research exploring how adiposity might be relevant to pregnancy.

Maternity units currently use body mass index (BMI) to identify which women and pregnant people might need additional care during pregnancy. Total body weight and height are used to calculate a BMI. This calculation has some limitations as it cannot tell how much fat tissue someone has, or where it is stored. There might be other adiposity measures that work better than BMI to identify who would benefit the most from additional care during pregnancy.

What is SHAPES trying to do?

The SHAPES research programme aims to explore whether there are measures of adiposity in early pregnancy that can be used to identify which pregnant women and people, and their babies, might benefit from additional care during pregnancy.
The SHAPES-Cohort study has collected early pregnancy adiposity measurements from 1450 pregnant women and people at Newcastle NHS Trust maternity unit to compare with BMI, to see which measures work best at predicting pregnancy outcomes. 
The SHAPES-IPD study has involved working with international researchers who have been doing similar research to compare the results of the SHAPES-Cohort with different populations to see how similar or different the results are. 
Since 2019 SHAPES has focused on researching alternative measurements to BMI and this has been expanded with SHAPES-Bio which started in 2025.

What is SHAPES-Bio?

The SHAPES-Bio study is using the information and findings from SHAPES, with permission from the women who took part in SHAPES, to use their blood samples to test for biomarkers. Biomarkers are chemicals in the blood (like hormones) which can sometimes be helpful to identify health status. We are comparing different combinations of biomarkers and adiposity measurements to see which combinations work best at predicting pregnancy outcomes. We will compare these results with BMI to see if they can work better to help healthcare professionals identify which pregnant women and people, and babies, might benefit most from extra care.

Who is funding SHAPES?

The research is funded by the UK Department of Health and Social Care, via the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).

Where is the research being carried out?

SHAPES is led by Professor Nicola Heslehurst at Newcastle University’s Population Health Sciences Institute. The SHAPES cohort study was carried out at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Trust. 

SHAPES-Bio is led by Raya Vinogradov at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust., working will research teams at Newcastle University, University of Glasgow, and Kings College London.

See here for more details on the research team.

NIHR Inequalities Challenge: Maternity Disparities Consortium

SHAPES is now part of the UK-wide Maternity Disparities Consortium which launched in June 2026. The consortium aims to reduce inequalities before, during and after pregnancy. You can find out more about the consortium here.
SHAPES research will be included in a wider research programme to develop a "Cardiometabolic Care Bundle". Cardiometabolic care includes obesity, diabetes, blood pressure and heart health. This research aims to improve the co-ordination and consistency of care in pregnancy, during birth, after the baby is born, and before any future pregnancies to improve maternal and child cardiometabolic-related health outcomes.  

Are you interested in finding out more about SHAPES?

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