News & Updates

Contrary to previous findings, low-dose aspirin therapy before conception and during early pregnancy may increase pregnancy chances and live births among women who have experienced one or two prior miscarriages, suggests a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health. Rather than looking solely at the difference in pregnancy rates between women who were given aspirin and those receiving a placebo, the study also accounted for differences in total aspirin use between women who deviated from the daily regimen and those who adhered to it.

Read about NICHD’s research findings and activities from 2020.

Women who use marijuana could have a more difficult time conceiving a child than women who do not use marijuana, suggests a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health.

Vegetarian diets during pregnancy are associated with small infant birth weight, but not a higher risk preterm birth or other medical complications, suggests a National Institutes of Health study.

Women with asthma are more likely than normal to gain weight during pregnancy and to retain weight 3 months after giving birth, suggests a National Institutes of Health study. On average, women with asthma gained 3.1 kg (just under 7 lbs) more after a full-term pregnancy than women without asthma. Among women with asthma, weight gain was greater with obesity. Weight gain was also greater with more severe asthma and with asthma triggered by exercise. The study authors suggest that their findings underscore the importance of pre-pregnancy counseling for women with asthma on the need to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight.

National Institutes of Health study suggests women with mood disorders, gestatational diabetes may have a higher risk.

Opioid use among women trying to conceive may be associated with a lower chance of pregnancy, suggests a National Institutes of Health study. Moreover, opioid use in early pregnancy may be associated with a greater chance of pregnancy loss.

New tools estimate fetal growth percentiles and velocity, and they account for racial and ethnic variations.

Exposure to iodine used for medical procedures in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) may increase an infant’s risk for congenital hypothyroidism (loss of thyroid function), suggests a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.

Shyamal D. Peddada, Ph.D., has been named the new chief of the Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Branch of the Division of Intramural Population Health Research at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Dr. Peddada joins NICHD from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, where he served as Chair of the Department of Biostatistics.

Four years after high school, adolescents who were binge drinkers during their senior year were more likely than non-binge drinkers to drive while impaired, to ride with an impaired driver, to black out from alcohol, to extreme binge drink, and to engage in risky driving practices, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.

The earlier in pregnancy infants were born, the more likely they were to fail a screening test for developmental delay by age 3, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions. Although infants born at 39 weeks, considered full term, had a lower risk than those born earlier, infants born at 40 and 41 weeks had even lower risks. The findings may have implications for elective induction—labor induced when there is no medical need—at 39 weeks.

Teens with a learner’s permit who had regular, behind-the-wheel practice sessions had a lower crash risk in the year after they obtained their driver’s license, compared to teens who practiced less frequently, according to a study by researchers at the NICHD and other institutions.

Children born to women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) may be at higher risk for anxiety, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and behavioral problems, compared to children whose mothers do not have the infertility disorder, according to National Institutes of Health researchers.

Maternal obesity may increase a child’s risk for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to an analysis by NICHD researchers.

The longer a woman with gestational, or pregnancy-related, diabetes breastfeeds her infant, the lower her risk for developing type 2 diabetes later in life, suggests an analysis by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.

Women who go on to develop type 2 diabetes after having gestational, or pregnancy-related, diabetes are more likely to have particular genetic profiles, suggests an analysis by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions. The findings provide insight into the genetic factors underlying the risk of type 2 diabetes and may inform strategies for reducing this risk among women who had gestational diabetes.

Gene modifications correspond to blood pressure increases at distinct pregnancy intervals.

Dietary supplements containing zinc and folic acid—marketed as a treatment for male infertility—do not appear to improve pregnancy rates, sperm counts or sperm function, according to a study conducted by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), part of the National Institutes of Health.