The SHAPES research team at Newcastle University and Newcastle NHS Hospital Trust would like to say thank you to participants who have taken part in SHAPES to date.

We started the SHAPES study in April 2022 and the research is still going on. We hope to have recruited all our SHAPES participants by April 2024! 

What have we done so far?

We are aiming to include 1400 pregnant participants in the SHAPES study - we have recruited over 1000 participants so far, and over 700 of you have had your baby already, congratulations to you all.

Throughout the research visits at the 12-week scan appointments, we have taken over 34,000 ultrasound and body shape measurements for this study so far. This is an amazing achievement and it couldn’t have been done without the support of all our SHAPES participants and the research team working in the clinics. Thank you to everyone involved!

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Prize Draw: 40 x £100 gift voucher prizes

Everyone taking part in the SHAPES study is given an option to enter into a prize draw, with a chance to win a £100 gift voucher. 20 participants have won vouchers so far, and another 20 will be drawn in 2024. Good luck!

What’s next?

We hope to reach our 1400 target by April 2024, and after this we will wait for all SHAPES babies to be born to gather all the data we need for the analysis. We should have all the data we need by the end of 2024.

We will send you another update when all the measurements have been completed and you can read more about the SHAPES research here on our website.

Extra SHAPES study using routine blood samples

In July 2023, we added an extra study to SHAPES using routine pregnancy blood samples to see if there might be any blood tests we could do instead of, or alongside, the SHAPES measurements. The aim of this study is to see if we can identify which pregnant women, people, and babies would benefit most from extra care in the future.

If you took part in SHAPES before July 2023 and said you were happy for us to keep your data for future research, you might receive an email asking if you are happy to take part in this extra study. This wouldn’t involve having any new blood tests, but using leftover blood samples from your pregnancy if they are still being stored in the hospital. Look out for the email which has links to more detailed information about this new study, and please feel free to contact the research team to discuss further if you want to.

Thank you!

Thanks again to all the participants for taking part in SHAPES, we really appreciate everyone's involvement and the potential for this study to benefit pregnant women, people, and babies in the future. We look forward to sharing more updates with you in 2024.

1. SHAPES Cohort Study

• Ethics approvals for research
• Can I Take Part ?
• At the Appointment
• After the Appointment
• Contact Details

2. SHAPES Individual Participant Data Study

3. Cost Effectiveness Study