News & Updates

A study from federal researchers shows that information about ways to reduce the risk of sleep-related infant deaths is not reaching all caregivers or healthcare providers.

Feeling stressed was linked to lower chances of ovulation, conception, and pregnancy among women who had earlier experienced a pregnancy loss, according to an analysis by researchers at the NICHD.

Early life adversity among female baboons is directly linked to lower survival rates for their offspring, suggests an analysis funded by the National Institutes of Health. The study includes 45 years of data from a wild baboon population and overcomes a limitation of analyses of human populations, which have had difficulty distinguishing environmental effects on parents from environmental effects on children.

Children born to women who have high blood levels of lead are more likely be overweight or obese, compared to those whose mothers have low levels of lead in their blood, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health and Health Resources and Services Administration.

A protein essential for the survival of the bacterium that causes Legionnaires' disease works by stealing iron from the host cells it infects, according to a study by researchers from the National Institutes of Health and other institutions. Their findings may provide information useful for designing new drug treatments for Legionnaires’ disease.

Sleeping on the back or side through the 30th week of pregnancy does not appear to increase the risk of stillbirth, reduced size at birth, or high blood pressure disorders of pregnancy, suggests an analysis funded by the NICHD.

NICHD releases a strategic plan outlining its research priorities for the next 5 years.

Surgery for stress urinary incontinence improves symptoms of another form of incontinence, called urgency urinary incontinence, in women who have both types, according to a study supported by NIH.

Two surgical procedures used to correct vaginal prolapse—one to remove the uterus and one that supports the uterus with mesh—have comparable three-year outcomes.

Teen girls—but not boys—who prefer to go to bed later are more likely to gain weight, compared to same-age girls who go to bed earlier, suggests a study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Blood levels of omega-6 fatty acids produced in the body could influence the likelihood of developing gestational diabetes, suggests a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions. However, the researchers found no association with gestational diabetes from consuming foods containing omega-6 fatty acids, such as vegetable oils, nuts, and seeds.

Pregnant women who are exposed to higher air pollution levels during their second pregnancy, compared to their first one, may be at greater risk of preterm birth, according to researchers at the National Institutes of Health.

Treating preterm infants with antibiotics for more than 20 months appears to promote the development of multidrug-resistant gut bacteria, suggests a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The research appears in Nature Microbiology.

Improved data reporting among the factors critical to reducing life-threatening complications of pregnancy and childbirth

NICHD researcher Mary Dasso, Ph.D., considers herself to have been lucky at many points in her career. But luck alone cannot account for her success as a principal investigator and program leader. Read about her career over the decades.

After a nationwide search, Alison Cernich, Ph.D., has been selected as deputy director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), part of the National Institutes of Health. Since 2015, Dr. Cernich has served as the director of NICHD’s National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research.

Carriers of the FMR1 premutation—a mutation in the gene associated with the developmental disorder Fragile X syndrome—may have a higher risk for several health conditions, according to an analysis funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Infants born to mothers taking the drug naltrexone to treat opioid use disorder showed no signs of drug withdrawal and had shorter hospital stays than infants born to mothers undergoing the standard treatment, according to a small study funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Exposure to high levels of certain common air pollutants in early pregnancy may increase the risk of pregnancy-induced high blood pressure, suggests an analysis by researchers at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. In addition, exposure to a class of air pollutants known as volatile organic compounds in mid-pregnancy may increase the risk for preeclampsia, a potentially fatal disorder of pregnancy affecting blood pressure and kidney function.

A high genetic risk score for cholesterol and other blood lipids among pregnant women is linked to fetal weight, but varies according to the mother’s racial and ethnic group and obesity status, suggests an analysis by researchers at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.