APrON Study

Established in 2009, APrON (Alberta Pregnancy Outcomes and Nutrition) is a cohort study that has approximately 5000 participants (2200 pregnant women, their offspring and many of their partners) from Calgary and Edmonton. APrON is designed to analyze the relationship between maternal nutrient status during pregnancy and maternal mental health and child health and development. It was developed by a team of expert researchers and clinicians from many disciplines including nutrition, psychology and psychiatry, family medicine, child development, neonatology (health of newborn infants), genetics, epidemiology (health of large populations) and biostatistics. Our vision is to improve the health and long-term potential of parents and children in Alberta. We seek to understand the impact of nutrition, mental health and many other factors (e.g. social support, genes) on children’s neurodevelopment.