Spanish research team led by two studies on maternal and child health and premature infants.

• Adolf Valls has become one of the most important scientists in this field to coordinate the two leading research groups and projects RETIC EuroNeoStat.

• RETIC seeking interventions in the process of pregnancy and childbirth and the first days of life to slow down, as far as possible, the consequences in the short, medium and long term.

• prematurity rates have increased in Spain, so that in three decades have nearly doubled from 4-5 to 7-8% today.

• Today killed five of every thousand births in normal conditions and in the case of newborns with low molecular weight percentage reaches 15 in every hundred.

• Identify modifiable risk factors, analyze the process of care and compare the results obtained in a unit, region or country with its population of reference is the great challenge of EuroNeoStat

The need for an interdisciplinary approach of Pediatrics is the philosophy of Adolf Valls i Soler, the only scientist from the State now coordinates two working groups to lead two research projects in this regard, a Cooperative Research Network (RETIC ) on Maternal and Child Health and a European project, EuroNeoStat, considered "the first European network for research in prevention which includes information on the outcomes of care to infants of very low birth weight." Both projects are supported by Osakidetza and the Basque Foundation for Health Research and Innovation / BIO Eusko Foundation (BIOEF).

"A group can not move forward in research without crossing knowledge. The networking is essential, "said the expert. In regard to the development of research in maternal and child health, Valls said that the work focuses on "the search for interventions during the pregnancy and birth and first days of life to slow down in the extent possible, the consequences in the short, medium and long term. The study seeks to generate a specific knowledge about the health of newborn babies to reduce the incidence of adult diseases related to childhood diseases. "

Among the researchers who are part of the network include pediatric subspecialists, neonatologists, obstetricians and biologists working in the area of Maternal and Child Health. The lines included in the proposal include the impact of disease on the postnatal development perinatal (prematurity causes and consequences, perinatal infection and inflammation, environmental factors and epigenetic fetal-neonate) as the basis of certain perinatal diseases in adults, focusing on all the parameters of nutrition and child development.

EuroNeoStat

The team that coordinates Adolf Valls has also been selected as project leader EuroNeoStat, the first European network for research in prevention which includes information on the outcomes of care to infants of very low birth weight. The project is funded by the Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection (DGSANCO) of the European Commission. It collaborating neonatal units in 23 European countries and is the first research project of this nature that led a group of State also has the support of Osakidetza and the Basque Foundation for Health Research and Innovation / BIO Eusko Foundation ( BIOEF).

The overall objective of EuroNeoStat is, as Adolf Valls says, to "create a European information system and monitoring of short-and long-term newborns of very low birth weight (RNMBP), assisted in the units participants, to improve the quality and safety of care provided and thus, enhance its development. "

Requires the coordinator of this group of leadership, which "examines the research, by comparison, mortality rates, risk factors, interventions and results in a range of ecosystems. The results offer a different neonatal services a query parameter with which to measure the effectiveness of treatment that are underway. "

Adolf Valls believes that "at present, prematurity should be a health priority because of its high prevalence and serious individual, family, social, and economic welfare. These children not only need extended stays in neonatal intensive care units (NICU), but often require rehospitalizaciones and multiple preventive, therapeutic and rehabilitative, which drain the always limited resources available. All this makes this project is of great importance both in health and in social and economic. "

Is a growing trend across Europe. Prematurity rates have increased in Spain, so that in three decades have almost doubled (from 4-5 to 7-8% today). Moreover, infants of low-molecular weight less than 1500 grams birth-weight contribute to increased neonatal and infant mortality despite only accounting for 1-2% of all babies, given their specific mortality (15-20 %) and high morbidity (10-20%). The data, according to Adolf Valls says, "are eloquent. Today, five of every thousand die during normal births in the case of newborns with low molecular weight percentage reaches 15 in every hundred. On the other hand, "said the expert," we must consider that while their rates are dependent on maternal health and perinatal care received, the specific morbidity is the result, among other factors, the quality of neonatal care. "

Adolf Valls stressed that "the possibility of improving outcomes requires the identification of modifiable risk factors, analyze the process of care and compare the results obtained in a unit, region or country with its population. Thus, in addition to its intra-analysis, and if followed indicators and criteria explicit and uniform, you can make comparisons between institutions, a key issue for progress in science applied to the clinic. "