PhD Studentship: Health and Well-being and Data Science: Funded WGSSS Studentship. The effect of vaginal infections on fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, and neonatal outcomes

Vaginal infections, including bacterial vaginosis (BV) and vulvovaginal candidiasis (thrush), are highly prevalent among people of reproductive age. Although often treated as minor or self-limiting conditions, there is an increasing concern that vaginal infections may have important consequences for fertility, pregnancy, postpartum recovery, and neonatal outcomes. Existing evidence is inconsistent, frequently underpowered, and limited by short follow-up, selective samples, and inadequate control for confounding. As a result, the true population-level impact of vaginal infections on reproductive health remains poorly understood.  

This PhD project will address the question of whether vaginal infections affect fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, and neonatal outcomes. It will use large-scale routinely collected healthcare data from the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank, Health & Her’s data repository and UK Biobank. The project will take a life-course and population-health perspective, focusing on people with well recorded longitudinal data on reproductive health outcomes.   

The Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank is a research resource that contains linked primary and secondary care, maternity, and demographic records for >86% of the population of Wales, enabling long-term follow-up of health outcomes. UK Biobank is a large national cohort study of >500,000 participants, with detailed self-reported reproductive histories, lifestyle data, biological measures, and linked health records. Health & Her’s data repository contains >300,000 women’s data on vaginal, menstrual, and menopausal symptoms and reproductive experiences collected through a digital health platform: the Health & Her app. Health & Her is a women's health company offering expert-formulated supplements, a freely-available app, and advice via their app and website to support women through challenges related to periods, pregnancy, perimenopause, and menopause. The Health & Her app enables women (at no cost) to monitor their hormonal health and symptoms once they have agreed that their anonymised data can be used for academic research purposes.  Together, these datasets provide complementary strengths, combining routine clinical records with rich self-reported symptom and treatment data.   

Please see our website for the full project description.

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