Premature Birth clinical trials at UCSF

6 in progress, 5 open to eligible people

Premature birth means a baby is born before 37 weeks of pregnancy. UCSF is researching treatments for severe eye conditions in preemies, comparing prenatal care methods, and examining heart rhythms in newborns. These clinical trials seek to find better health solutions for premature babies and their mothers.

Showing trials for

  • Bevacizumab Treatment For Type 1 ROP

    open to eligible people ages up to 6 months

    Type 1 retinopathy of prematurity in zone I represents the most severe type of ROP and has the worst prognosis. It is unknown whether low-dose bevacizumab will be successful in these severe cases. Also unknown is the timing and extent of peripheral retinal vascularization after low-dose bevacizumab compared with the standard dose. The current study will evaluate whether doses of 0.063 mg and 0.25mg are effective as treatment for type 1 ROP, with ROP and retinal vessels all in zone I.

    San Francisco, California and other locations

  • Engaging Mothers & Babies; Reimagining Antenatal Care for Everyone (EMBRACE) Study

    open to eligible females

    This is a randomized comparative effectiveness study of two forms of enhanced prenatal care among 657 Medi-Cal eligible pregnant individuals in Fresno, California. The goal is to see whether group prenatal care with wrap around services versus individual prenatal care supplemented by services covered by the California Department of Public Health Comprehensive Perinatal Services Program (CPSP) results in less depression and anxiety, and more respectful, more person-centered maternity care and lower rates of preterm birth.

    San Francisco, California and other locations

  • MARY-JANE Cannabis and Heart Rhythm Trial

    open to eligible people ages 21 years and up

    Despite recreational cannabis now being legal in 23 states, where more than 100 million Americans reside, studies on the actual health effects are limited. This study is a randomized trial, where each participant will be instructed to consume or avoid cannabis on randomly assigned days during a 14-day monitoring period. The goal of this study is to answer the question: "Does cannabis use increase the frequency of 'early' and abnormal heart beats?" During the 14-day period, participants will wear an external heart monitor, a glucose monitor, and a fitness tracker to track heart rhythm, glucose levels, step counts, and sleep health. Participants will use a mobile app or a text messaging service for daily instructions/reminders on cannabis use, and short surveys. The investigators ask that participants smoke or vape cannabis at least once on days they are instructed to consume cannabis. Compelling evidence of heart and other health effects would be important to the clinical care of our patients.

    San Francisco, California and other locations

  • Periviable GOALS Decision Support Tool

    open to eligible people ages 18 years and up

    The Periviable GOALS (Getting Optimal Alignment around Life Support) decision support tool (DST) is meant to facilitate informed shared decision-making regarding neonatal resuscitation for families facing the threat of a periviable delivery (deliveries occurring between 22 0/7 - 25 6/7 weeks gestational age). It is designed for parents to review independent of their clinician, and is intended to supplement, not replace, clinician counseling. The focus of the DST is the provision of patient-centered outcomes information and assistance with values clarification regarding neonatal outcomes. This is a multisite, randomized controlled trial to test the effect of the Periviable GOALS DST on shared decision making and decision satisfaction. The investigators hypothesize that participants who utilize the GOALS DST will have improved shared decision making and higher decision satisfaction.

    San Francisco, California and other locations

  • Heart Rhythm Twins Study

    open to eligible people ages 18 years and up

    Premature atrial contractions (PACs) and premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) are observed in the majority of individuals monitored for more than a few hours. Although the clinical course of PACs and PVCs is usually benign, it has been described that high PAC or PVC frequency causes various comorbidities and worsens outcomes in different patient groups. For example, PACs can initiate episodes of atrial fibrillation, and PAC count is highly specific in predicting diagnosis of incident atrial fibrillation. Increasing PVC frequencies are an important predictor of incident heart failure. While conventional wisdom dictates that common environmental exposures determine PAC and PVC frequencies, this has not born out in rigorous studies. Whether PAC and PVC frequencies may have genetic underpinnings remains unknown. Comparisons between identical twins and fraternal twins can provide estimates of heritability. Fraternal twins are an ideal control because, like identical twins, they share a womb, have the same birthday, and their environment while growing up are as similar as between identical twins. However, while identical twins share approximately 100% of the same inherited DNA, fraternal twins share, on average, about 50%. By monitoring identical and fraternal twins with portable electrocardiograms (ECGs), we will be able to count the PACs and PVCs over a consecutive timespan to describe the familial aggregation of these complexes. This, to our knowledge, would be the first study to compare PAC and PVC frequencies in identical and same-sex fraternal twins, providing the first assessment of how genetical inheritance may influence cardiac ectopy burdens.

    San Francisco, California

  • Milk, Growth and Microbiota Study

    Sorry, currently not accepting new patients, but might later

    Late preterm infants, who are born at 34, 35 or 36 weeks gestation, often have difficulty feeding, establishing growth, and fighting off infection. Breastfeeding provides improved nutrition to help fight infection, in part because breast milk encourages the growth of healthy bacteria (microbiota) in the infant's intestine. However, when mothers give birth preterm, their breasts are usually not quite ready to make milk; it can take several days to have enough breast milk to match a baby's nutritional needs. If there is not yet enough breast milk, formula is often used. However, formula can interfere with the growth of healthy intestinal bacteria. An alternate nutritional option is donor milk from a certified milk bank, which is available in all neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in San Francisco. However, no scientific studies have yet studied donor milk for late preterm infants, so currently all San Francisco NICUs (as well as the large majority of NICUs nationwide) reserve donor milk for infants born at <34 weeks. This study's investigators therefore propose the "Milk, Growth and Microbiota (MGM) Study," a randomized controlled trial to compare banked donor milk to formula for breastfeeding late preterm infants born in San Francisco. Once enrolled in MGM, infants will be randomly assigned to receive either formula or banked donor milk if they need additional nutrition until their mothers are making enough milk. After enrolling the babies, investigators will weigh them daily to assess their growth. The investigators will also collect infant bowel movements at baseline, 1 week and 1 month to determine whether donor milk vs. formula impacts the type of bacteria in the baby's intestine. If the study's results show that donor milk optimizes growth while helping establish healthy bacteria in the baby's intestine, donor milk might be postnatal strategy to bolster neonatal nutrition for late preterm infants.

    San Francisco, California

Our lead scientists for Premature Birth research studies include .

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