At just three weeks old, twins Aurelius and Etienne are contributing to global clinical research that aims to improve the health and development of premature infants.
They are participants in the CIRCA DIEM Study, which aims to understand if day/night cycling of environmental light and noise promotes earlier development of the internal circadian rhythms of babies born before 32 weeks’ gestation and if this improves their brain development.
Baby Aurelius in the NICU at Monash Newborn.
During their time in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Monash Children’s Hospital, the twins will experience “night” by wearing eye-masks and earplugs. During the day these are taken off so they can experience “daytime”.
“For some infants born very preterm, their future is hampered by a brain injury,” said Monash Newborn neonatologist at Monash Children’s Hospital, Professor Rod Hunt.
“We feel very strongly that we should be doing everything we can to optimize the outcomes for these infants, ensuring that they have the best quality of life possible.”
By consenting to their babies taking part in the study, the twins’ parents hope to make things easier for other families with preterm infants.
“We are scientifically minded people, and we wanted to help contribute to the body of established knowledge,” said dad Vincent.
“[The twins] seem pretty comfortable [in the eye-masks and earplugs]. We watch them on the cameras overnight. They pull on the tubes and the lines, but they have not pulled on the masks yet! They seem very relaxed with them on,” said mum Leonie.
New parents Vincent and Leonie with their son Etienne.
At Monash Children’s Hospital participating babies also have an MRI scan of their brain just before they go home.
“From this we hope to get a more detailed look at their brain anatomy to see whether or not the babies who have been cycled through the light and dark have more developed brain structures than those who are receiving standard care,” said neonatologist and clinical researcher at Monash Newborn, Dr Calum Roberts.
When Aurelius and Etienne turn two-years-old, their development and progress will be assessed. This will help researchers understand whether the eye-masks and earplugs make a difference to the development of preterm babies.
“If this research improves outcomes for babies and is translatable beyond the unit to other settings that would be a fantastic result,” said Dr Roberts.
Neonatalists Professor Rod Hunt and Dr Calum Roberts.
Over 50 premature babies at Monash Children’s Hospital have been recruited to take part in the study, which is coordinated by Telethon Kids Institute.
Monash Health acknowledges that Professor Rod Hunt’s work is made possible with funding from The Financial Markets Foundation for Children.