Understanding Your Baby's Growth
This animation illustrates the development of a birthweight and fetal growth restriction risk calculator. Created by a group of international collaborators led by the University of Birmingham, the calculator is designed to help clinicians and parents monitor pregnancies and make informed decisions based on personalised risk assessments.
ABOUT US
The IPPIC Network is an international collaborative group formed of researchers, academics and clinicians from 23 countries world wide. The repository holds the largest repository of standardised individual participant data (IPD) of over 5 million pregnancies, for key predictors of outcomes including pre-eclampsia, stillbirth, fetal growth restriction, neonatal death, birth weight, neonatal morbidity, and preterm birth. The Collaborative strategy is to continue to accrue relevant data for all these outcomes, and to ensure that the database is kept live through national and international funding.
AIMS
The IPPIC repository, initially funded by the UK National Institute of Health Research - Health Technology Authority (NIHR-HTA) and supported by the WHO (World Health Organization), was first established to develop IPD meta-analysis for prediction of pre-eclampsia (IPPIC Pre-eclmapsia). The project has grown through successful funding applications for further IPD meta-analyses using data in the repository to predict stillbirth (IPPIC Stillbirth), spontaneous preterm birth (IPPIC Preterm birth), and fetal growth restriction (IPPIC FGR). The data repository has also informed research that explored associations between maternal characteristics such as race and ethnicity and adverse pregnancy outcomes.
ONGOING EVENTS AND MEETINGS
Collaborators Meetings are unique opportunities for members of the IPPIC Network to meet and discuss progress of the project and provide feedback or suggestions to any difficulties being faced by the project team
The Publication Committee decides on the author order and also which journals to submit to. All publications are made under the name of the ‘IPPIC Collaborative Group’
RECENT EVENTS AND MEETINGS
May 2024 - Dissemination event - Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG)
We held a stakeholders event at the RCOG for researchers, clinicians, and members of the dedicated patient and public involvement and engagement group for women's health. During the event, we presented the recently developed IPPIC birthweight and fetal growth restriction prediction models, and asked for feedback on how useful and acceptable they are for clinicians and pregnant women, and how they could be implemented into current practice. We had interactive polling activities which allowed us to gather feedback on the models, and we have been able to incorporate this into our ongoing work.
Jan 2026 - Co-developed animation goes live
Following the event above, we have held several workshops with patient and public contributors. The aim of these workshops was to co-develop a short animation which explained the research behind the development of the IPPIC birthweight and fetal growth restriction models, and to illustrate how these could be used as tools to support decision-making and risk communication with pregnant women and their families. We gave careful consideration to the language and imagery used in the animation, as well as the overall message that we wanted to convey. We worked with Science Animated, a company that specialises in explaining complex science in an engaging and interesting way. The animation went live in January 2026 and can be viewed at the top of this page.
DATA SHARING COMMITTEE
At IPPIC, we prioritize responsible data access to ensure high-quality research while safeguarding data privacy. The Data Sharing Committee, composed of esteemed members of IPPIC, carefully reviews all applications for data access. Their role is to assess proposals and ensure that data is used in a way that aligns with IPPIC’s mission of advancing maternal health research.
We are also seeking new members to join this important committee. If you are passionate about data sharing, governance, and maternal health research, we encourage you to get involved. Please get in touch with us to learn more about the opportunity to contribute.