South Middlesex Times

The Camden Study, a pregnancy cohort of 4,765 women from Camden, New Jersey, is being revitalized at Rutgers University. Initially designed to study nutritional status in adolescent pregnancies, the project has expanded into a comprehensive repository of maternal and infant health data. This dataset has been pivotal in producing significant research papers over more than a decade.

Emily Barrett and Zorimar Rivera-Núñez, researchers at Rutgers Health, were unaware of the Camden cohort until they noticed its frequent citation in studies they encountered. Rivera-Núñez explained their surprise: “We started looking for more papers from the Camden cohort... We were just like, ‘Oh my god, what is this cohort in our home state that we don’t know about?’” They soon contacted Xinhua Chen from Rowan University, who had been maintaining the data.

The study captures health data from an underrepresented population: 45% Hispanic, 38% non-Hispanic Black, and 17% white participants. Most received Medicaid during pregnancy and many were teenagers at the time of participation. The study has shown that adolescent growth during pregnancy correlates with smaller neonatal birth sizes and identified various nutritional and racial disparities affecting pregnancy outcomes.

Stephanie Shiau noted the challenge of recruiting similar populations today due to declining teen pregnancy rates: “Teen pregnancy has declined over time. So recruitment of that population today will be challenging.” The depth of data collected includes maternal interviews, dietary assessments, clinical measurements, and biospecimens such as blood and saliva.

Rivera-Núñez described the wealth of information available: “There’s so much data – it’s years and years of work and papers.” With Chen's retirement approaching, she sought new stewards for the cohort's vast repository. Rivera-Núñez and Barrett moved eight freezers worth of biospecimens to Rutgers within two months.

Barrett remarked on the transition process: “It was intense and challenging... I worked with leadership to secure space and funding.” Now housed at Rutgers with proper support, they aim to develop new research projects by collaborating globally. Shiau expressed openness to collaboration: “We welcome questions from and collaborations with other researchers.”

The biorepository offers opportunities for modern analysis techniques on historical samples. There is also potential for follow-up studies involving original participants or their children now in adulthood.

Rivera-Núñez emphasized their gratitude towards Chen: “We’ll be forever grateful to Dr. Chen... We hope to continue her legacy.”