Publications

Various projects have made use of OBS data since the study’s inception in 2013. These projects have been incredibly successful and have resulted in publications, which are listed below, organized from most recent to oldest.

2025

  1. Park C, Alahari S, Ausman J, Liu R, Nguyen F, Sallais J, Post M, Caniggia I. Placental Hypoxia-Induced Ferroptosis Drives Vascular Damage in Preeclampsia. Circulation Research. 2025 Jan 23; Volume 136, Number 4. doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.124.325119.
  2. Levitan RD, Zhang CXW, Knight JA, Hung RJ, Wade M, Finegold K, Ameis S, Bertoni K, Wong J, Murphy KE, Lye SJ, Matthews SG. A New Model to Study Season-of-Conception Effects on Child Neurodevelopment based on Maternal History of Seasonal Affective Disorder. Psychiatry Research. 2025; Online ahead of print. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2025.116430.
  3. Saad W, Stremler R, Birken CS, Knight JA, Hung RJ, Lye SJ, Matthews SG, Levitan RD. The association between maternal depression and anxiety symptoms during pregnancy and child sleep patterns at age 3 years. Journal of Affective Disorders. 2025; Volume 374, pgs 460-466. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2025.01.009.

2024

  1. Klemetti MM, Pettersson ABV, Ahmad Khan A, Ermini L, Porter TR, Litvack ML, Alahari S, Zamudio S, Illsley NP, Röst H, Post M, Caniggia I. Lipid profile of circulating placental extracellular vesicles during pregnancy identifies foetal growth restriction risk. Journal of Extracellular Vesicles. 2024 Feb;13(2):e12413. doi: 10.1002/jev2.12413. PMID: 38353485; PMCID: PMC10865917.
  2. Kim B, Kostaki A, McClymont S, Matthews SG. Identification of a DNA methylation signature in whole blood of newborn guinea pigs and human neonates following antenatal betamethasone exposure. Translational Psychiatry. 2024 Nov 7;14(1):465. doi: 10.1038/s41398-024-03175-5. PMID: 39511158; PMCID: PMC11543945.

2023

  1. Levitan RD, Atkinson L, Knight JA, Hung RJ, Wade M, Jenkins JM, Bertoni K, Wong J, Murphy KE, Lye SJ, Matthews SG. Maternal major depression during early pregnancy is associated with impaired child executive functioning at 4.5 years of age. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2023. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2023.11.1252.
  2. Finegold KE, Knight JA, Hung RJ, Ssewanyana D, Wong J, Bertoni K, Adel Khani N, Watson H, Levitan RD, Jenkins JM, Matthews SG, Wade M. Cognitive and Emotional Well-Being of Preschool Children Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic. JAMA Network Open. 2023;6(11):e2343814. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.43814.
  3. Alahari S, Ausman J, Porter T, Park C, Pettersson ABV, Klemetti MM, Zhang J, Post M, Caniggia I. Fibronectin and JMJD6 Signature in Circulating Placental Extracellular Vesicles for the Detection of Preeclampsia. Endocrinology, Volume 164, Issue 4, 2023 April. doi: 10.1210/endocr/bqad013.
  4. Schmidt RA, Wey TW, Harding KD, Fortier I, Atkinson S, Tough S, Letourneau N, Knight JA, Fraser WD, Bocking A. A harmonized analysis of five Canadian pregnancy cohort studies: exploring the characteristics and pregnancy outcomes associated with prenatal alcohol exposure. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth. 2023 Feb 28; 23:128. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-023-05447-2.

2022

  1. Levitan RD, Sqapi M, Post M, Knight JA, Lye SJ, Matthews SG. Increasing maternal age predicts placental protein expression critical for fetal serotonin metabolism: Potential implications for neurodevelopmental research. Placenta. 2022 Dec: 9-11. doi: 10.016/j.placenta.2022.10.009.
  2. Lye JM, Knight JA, Arneja J, Seeto RA, Wong J, Adel Khani N, Brooks JD, Levitan RD, Matthews SG, Lye SJ, Hung RJ. Maternal acetaminophen use and cognitive development at 4 years: the Ontario Birth Study. Pediatr Res. 2022 Jul 7:1-5. doi: 10.1038/s41390-022-02182-w. PMID: 35794252.
  3. Sasaki A, Murphy KE, Briollais L, McGowan PO, Matthews SG. DNA methylation profiles in the blood of newborn term infants born to mothers with obesity. PLoS One. 2022 May 2;17(5):e0267946. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0267946. eCollection 2022. PMID: 35500004.
  4. Kim B, Sasaki A, Murphy K, Matthews SG. DNA methylation signatures in human neonatal blood following maternal antenatal corticosteroid treatment. Transl Psychiatry. 2022 Mar 31;12(1):132. doi: 10.1038/s41398-022-01902-4. PMID: 35354798.
  5. Ssewanyana D, Knight JA, Matthews SG, Wong J, Khani NA, Lye J, Murphy KE, Foshay K, Okeke J, Lye SJ, Hung RJ. Maternal prenatal psychological distress and vitamin intake with children’s neurocognitive development. Pediatr Res. 2022 Mar 14. doi: 10.1038/s41390-022-02003-0. PMID: 35288638.
  6. Zhang CXW, Okeke JC, Levitan RD, Murphy KE, Foshay K, Lye SJ, Knight JA, Matthews SG. Evaluating depression and anxiety throughout pregnancy and after birth: impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Am J Obstet Gynecol MFM. 2022 May;4(3):100605. doi: 10.1016/j.ajogmf.2022.100605. Epub 2022 Mar 4. PMID: 35257937.

2021

  1. Steckle V, Shynlova O, Lye S, Bocking A. Low-intensity physical activity may protect pregnant women against spontaneous preterm labor: A prospective case-control study. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism. 2021 Apr; 46(4):337-345. doi: 10.1139/apnm-2019-0911. Epub 2020 Sep 25.

2020

  1. Sasaki A, Kim B, Murphy KE, Matthews SG. Impact of ex vivo Sample Handling on DNA Methylation Profiles in Human Cord Blood and Neonatal Dried Blood Spots. Front Genet. 2020 Mar 24;11:224. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2020.00224. PMID: 32265984; PMCID: PMC7106936.
  2. Arneja J, Hung RJ, Seeto RA, Knight JA, Hewko SL, Bocking A, Lye SJ, Brooks JD. Association between maternal acetaminophen use and adverse birth outcomes in a pregnancy and birth cohort. Pediatr Res. 2020 Jun;87(7):1263-1269. doi: 10.1038/s41390-019-0726-8. Epub 2019 Dec 18. PMID: 31852009.
  3. Levitan RD, Sqapi M, Atkinson L, Murphy K, Levitt A, Bocking A, Post M, Knight JA, Matthews SG. Seasonality of plasma tryptophan and kynurenine in pregnant mothers with a history of seasonal affective disorder: Vulnerability or adaptation? World J Biol Psychiatry. 2020 Sep;21(7):529-538. doi: 10.1080/15622975.2020.1769189. Epub 2020 May 28. Erratum in: World J Biol Psychiatry. 2020 Jun 26;:1. PMID: 32462949.
  4. Levitan RD, Zhang CXW, Knight JA, Hung R, Lye J, Murphy K, Atkinson L, Bocking A, Lye S, Matthews SG. Using Precision Medicine with a Neurodevelopmental Perspective to Study Inflammation and Depression. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2020 Dec 8;22(12):87. doi: 10.1007/s11920-020-01206-8. PMID: 33289044.
  5. Michalski CA, Hung RJ, Seeto RA, Dennis CL, Brooks JD, Henderson J, Levitan R, Lye SJ, Matthews SG, Knight JA. Association between maternal cannabis use and birth outcomes: an observational study. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2020 Dec 11;20(1):771. doi: 10.1186/s12884-020-03371-3. PMID: 33308186; PMCID: PMC7731469.

2019

  1. Poole N, Schmidt RA, Bocking A, Bergeron J, Fortier I. The Potential for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Prevention of a Harmonized Approach to Data Collection about Alcohol Use in Pregnancy Cohort Studies. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Jun 6;16(11):2019. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16112019. PMID: 31174290; PMCID: PMC6603946.
  2. Paquette AG, Shynlova O, Wu X, Kibschull M, Wang K, Price ND, Lye SJ. MicroRNA-transcriptome networks in whole blood and monocytes of women undergoing preterm labour. J Cell Mol Med. 2019 Oct;23(10):6835-6845. doi: 10.1111/jcmm.14567. Epub 2019 Jul 24. PMID: 31342622; PMCID: PMC6787570.
  3. Furmli H, Seeto RA, Hewko SL, Dalfen A, Jones CA, Murphy KE, Bocking A. Maternal Mental Health in Assisted and Natural Conception: A Prospective Cohort Study. J Obstet Gynaecol Can. 2019 Nov;41(11):1608-1615. doi: 10.1016/j.jogc.2019.03.002. Epub 2019 Jul 25. PMID: 31351834.

2018

  1. Paquette AG, Shynlova O, Kibschull M, Price ND, Lye SJ; Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Stillbirth Systems Biology of Preterm Birth Team. Comparative analysis of gene expression in maternal peripheral blood and monocytes during spontaneous preterm labor. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2018 Mar;218(3):345.e1-345.e30. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2017.12.234. Epub 2018 Jan 2. PMID: 29305255.
  2. Anderson LN, Knight JA, Hung RJ, Hewko SL, Seeto RA, Martin MJ, Fleming A, Maguire JL, Matthews SG, Murphy KE, Okun N, Jenkins JM, Lye SJ, Bocking A; Ontario Birth Study Collaboration. The Ontario Birth Study: A prospective pregnancy cohort study integrating perinatal research into clinical care. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol. 2018 May;32(3):290-301. doi: 10.1111/ppe.12473. Epub 2018 May 11. PMID: 29750375.
  3. Fallen S, Baxter D, Wu X, Kim TK, Shynlova O, Lee MY, Scherler K, Lye S, Hood L, Wang K. Extracellular vesicle RNAs reflect placenta dysfunction and are a biomarker source for preterm labour. J Cell Mol Med. 2018 May;22(5):2760-2773. doi: 10.1111/jcmm.13570. Epub 2018 Mar 8. PMID: 29516617; PMCID: PMC5908130.
  4. Freitas AC, Bocking A, Hill JE, Money DM; VOGUE Research Group. Increased richness and diversity of the vaginal microbiota and spontaneous preterm birth. Microbiome. 2018 Jun 28;6(1):117. doi: 10.1186/s40168-018-0502-8. PMID: 29954448; PMCID: PMC6022438.

2017

  1. Freitas AC, Chaban B, Bocking A, Rocco M, Yang S, Hill JE, Money DM; VOGUE Research Group. The vaginal microbiome of pregnant women is less rich and diverse, with lower prevalence of Mollicutes, compared to non-pregnant women. Sci Rep. 2017 Aug 23;7(1):9212. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-07790-9. PMID: 28835692; PMCID: PMC5569030.