News & Updates

Group seeks to enhance testing of therapeutics used by pregnant women and nursing mothers.

The earlier in pregnancy a woman quits smoking, the less likely she is to give birth preterm, according to an analysis funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Similarly, the study found that the more a pregnant woman smoked, the higher her chances for preterm birth.

Each year in the United States, 700 women die from pregnancy or childbirth complications – one of the highest maternal death rates in the developed world. Listen to Milestones interview with Dr. Juanita Chinn from NICHD’s Population Dynamics Branch.

Taking a folic acid supplement daily before pregnancy may reduce the risk of gestational, or pregnancy-related, diabetes, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.

Approximately 90 percent of teens killed by an intimate partner in the United States are girls, suggests an analysis funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The deaths identified in the study most commonly resulted after the victim either ended or would not enter a romantic relationship with the perpetrator or started a relationship with someone else. The findings provide information for researchers developing interventions to prevent intimate partner homicides among teens.

On April 8, 2019, join community organizations and healthcare professionals to discuss strategies for reducing the rising rate of maternal deaths in the United States.

Secretary of Health and Human Services renews task force for an additional two years. Task force members will offer guidance and advice on implementing 15 recommendations they submitted in September 2018.

An analysis of a previous study has found more evidence to support giving the steroid betamethasone to pregnant women at risk of late-preterm delivery (between 34 and 36 weeks of gestation), according to a network funded by the National Institutes of Health. Hospital stays for infants whose mothers received the drug cost less on average, compared to stays for infants whose mothers did not take the drug.

Racial and ethnic disparities in severe maternal morbidity—life-threatening maternal complications associated with childbirth—have persisted and increased at high rates among U.S. women, according to an analysis of nearly 20 years of California hospital records funded by the National Institutes of Health.

For women in resource-poor settings, taking a certain daily nutritional supplement before conception or in early pregnancy may provide enough of a boost to improve growth of the fetus, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Excessive weight gain during pregnancy could permanently slow metabolism and lead to weight gain in later life, according to the results of a mouse study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

The increasing rate in the United States of severe maternal morbidity—life-threatening maternal childbirth complications—may not be accounted for by the simultaneous increase in known risk factors for these complications, suggests an analysis of California hospital records funded by the National Institutes of Health. To reduce the rate of severe maternal morbidity, more research is needed to identify additional risk factors and other potential causes for the increase, the authors concluded.

Women and girls with a concussion are more likely than males to have a neck injury, according to an analysis of emergency department visits funded by the NICHD. The finding suggests that physicians evaluating females for concussion should also consider evaluating them for neck injury so that they can benefit from treatment as soon as possible.

Contrary to earlier studies, a National Institutes of Health funded analysis of records from more than 88,000 pregnancies in which women took the anti-nausea drug ondansetron found no increased risk for newborn heart malformations and only a slightly increased risk for cleft lip and palate.

As 2018 winds down, a new slideshow highlights a selection of initiatives, therapies, and scientific advances supported by NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

In 2018, researchers funded by NICHD made significant progress in advancing the health and well-being of infants, children, teenagers, and adults across the United States and around the world.

A first-time mother’s risk of pelvic floor disorders is strongly associated with how her baby is delivered, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Pelvic floor disorders are thought to result from weakening or injury of the muscles, ligaments and connective tissue in the lowest part of the pelvis.

Dr. Candace Tingen with NICHD’s Gynecological Health and Disease Branch speaks about the possibilities of tapping a woman’s menstrual cycle for signs of disease. Listen to our latest podcast.

In studies of mice and nonhuman primates, researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have used a technique known as RNA interference to reduce high levels of a protein that can cause preeclampsia, a potentially fatal high blood pressure disorder of pregnancy.

Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have produced human uterine endometrial cells from adult stem cells. The findings could lead to a way to produce new uterine cells from a patient’s own tissues, which could then be used to treat uterine disorders such as endometriosis, uterine factor infertility, and early-stage endometrial cancer.