Examining how type of delivery can impact a baby's microbiome

During birth, does the type of delivery play a role in the baby’s subsequent health as a child and then adult?

Dr. Sheona Mitchell-Foster, a Northern Medical Program faculty member, is leading the collection of data and analysis in Prince George to find out if there are different impacts on a baby’s gut bacterial community (microbiome) depending on cesarean or vaginal delivery.

The Maternal Microbiome Legacy Project is currently looking for local expectant mothers, 19 years of age and older who are registered for delivery at UHNBC or planning a home birth, interested in being part of the research study. The project will be seeking participants over the next three years.

“I believe that women want to understand the connection between their own birth story and their child’s health, and being able to participate in this research study is quite a unique opportunity here in the North,” says Dr. Mitchell-Foster, an obstetrician gynecologist and assistant professor in the Northern Medical Program and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, UBC Faculty of Medicine. “Our gut microbiome is something we now believe can have a lifelong impact on a variety of chronic diseases from obesity to diabetes,”  “What we don’t really know yet is what role the mother’s vaginal microbiome has on how an infant’s microbiome develops.

“The Maternal Legacy Project will tell us whether having a caesarean section compared to a vaginal delivery might change this. Ultimately, this could give us insight to certain differences we see in babies born by C-section versus vaginal birth.”

Dr. Mitchell-Foster is part of a provincial team of researchers working on the $1.4 million five-year Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) project, led by Dr. Deborah Money, Professor, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, UBC Faculty of Medicine.

The University Hospital of Northern BC in Prince George is one of three sites in B.C. participating in the study, which also includes BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre and Surrey Memorial Hospital. 

If you are an expectant mother who is registered for delivery at the University Hospital of Northern British Columbia or planning a home birth and you are interested in participating in this project, please contact the study coordinator at 250-960-6202, or maternal-legacy@unbc.ca