New DFF grant to protect the most vulnerable – and promote health equity from the very beginning of life

In Denmark, pregnant women are recommended to be vaccinated against influenza, pertussis, and – as a recent addition – RSV. The RSV vaccine is administered in week 32 of pregnancy to protect the newborn, but as the prevention strategy is currently formulated, infants born before this week are left without protection.

These children face the highest risk of severe illness but fall outside the scope of both maternal vaccination and the newer monoclonal antibody treatment that can be administered directly to the newborn. The latter is currently not available in Denmark, partly because the manufacturer has chosen not to supply it when national recommendations do not include the majority of newborns.

This inequality in prevention is a central starting point for the newly funded research project PRECARE – Preventing infection and promoting health equity for children born preterm, which has received DKK 6.94 million from the Independent Research Fund Denmark (DFF).

PRECARE is led by Stine Kjær Urhøj from the University of Copenhagen and is based on close collaboration between the academic and clinical worlds. It combines register-based epidemiology with clinical insight to help shape future prevention strategies. Clinical co-PI is Tine Brink Henriksen, Professor of Pediatrics and neonatology expert at Aarhus University Hospital. The team includes experts from the University of Copenhagen, Aarhus University, Nordsjællands Hospital, Statens Serum Institut, and the Rockwool Foundation Research Unit.

The project will investigate conditions related to respiratory infections in infants and how we can best develop prevention strategies that take into account the specific circumstances of being born preterm. Researchers will examine how gestational age affects the burden of respiratory infections from childhood into adulthood, the role of social factors and daycare settings, and whether the timing of vaccinations during pregnancy can be adjusted so that preterm infants receive better protection – without compromising protection for those born at term.

“It is a great pleasure to receive this grant, which marks an important milestone in my research within perinatal and life course epidemiology,” says Stine Kjær Urhøj. “It allows us to strengthen the clinical relevance of register-based studies and contribute to evidence-based health policy that includes the most vulnerable children.”

“Infections can have long-term consequences for health and contribute to social inequality in health, and with PRECARE we aim to place infectious diseases as a central focus of life course research. We hope the project will help shape future prevention strategies and reduce the lifelong burden of disease among children born preterm – and thereby promoting health equity from the very beginning of life.”

PRECARE is based on comprehensive Danish data, including national health registers, the microbiology database MiBa, and the Danish National Birth Cohort. The goal is to develop more equitable and targeted prevention strategies that include preterm children – a group often overlooked in both research and practice, despite their elevated risk.