News

NICHD’s Population Dynamics Branch supports research on a range of topics, including the factors that make populations rise and fall, such as fertility and mortality. We checked in with branch chief Rebecca Clark to learn more about the branch’s work.

It may be trendy, but a new study has concluded there are no benefits to eating the placenta. In this NICHD podcast, the study author explains the rationale behind this controversial practice and describes what the science has found.

National Institutes of Health (NIH) researchers and their colleagues have developed a “placenta-on-a-chip” to study the inner workings of the human placenta and its role in pregnancy.

A pelvic floor disorder (PFD) occurs when the muscles and connective tissue of the pelvis weaken or are injured. The most common types of PFDs are urinary incontinence (leaking of urine), fecal incontinence (leaking of stool), and pelvic organ prolapse (a condition in which the pelvic organs descend into the vagina).

NICHD conducts and supports research on health issues that are unique to women and on how certain diseases affect men and women differently.

NICHD’s Division of Intramural Research releases its 2014 annual report with progress updates from each program and laboratory.

The NICHD’s Division of Intramural Population Health Research (DIPHR) provides research updates in its newly released annual report for 2014.

During National Infertility Awareness Week 2015, Dr. Alan Guttmacher explores the latest research in an article in the Huffington Po

Endometriosis is one of the most common gynecologic diseases, affecting an estimated 5 million women in the United States. The condition occurs when tissue that normally lines the inside of the uterus grows outside the uterus. Pain and infertility are its primary symptoms.

In 2014, NICHD launched the Human Placenta Project (HPP), a new initiative to revolutionize our understanding of the human placenta and its role in health and disease.

The National Institutes of Health has dedicated $41.5 million for an initiative to understand and monitor the development of the human placenta during pregnancy. The funding will support the development of new technologies to assess the health of the placenta as it grows and matures, with the ultimate goal of improving the health of mothers and children.

Women who deliver a stillbirth—but who have no history of depression—may be at a higher risk for long-lasting depression, conclude researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The depression may last beyond the six months most people require to recover from a major loss and persist for as long as 36 months.

The antiretroviral drugs used to keep HIV at bay are an unqualified success at preventing the spread of the virus from mother to child. The drugs are not only essential for maintaining the health of a pregnant woman with HIV, they have also nearly eliminated the transmission of HIV to her baby. Among U.S. women, the likelihood of a mother passing the virus on to her child is now less than 1%.

Birth control pills are less effective for obese women. Studies have shown that obesity brings with it hormonal changes that can reduce the pill’s effectiveness.

Six young women with a disorder that mimics menopause have gene alterations that hamper the repair of damaged DNA, report researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Using sophisticated computer-based technology to analyze genetic data obtained from uterine tissue, researchers have identified patterns of genetic activity that can be used to diagnose endometriosis, an often-painful condition that occurs when tissue that normally lines the inside of the uterus grows outside the uterus. The prototype diagnostic method, developed with funding from the National Institutes of Health, can not only distinguish endometriosis from other disorders of the uterus, but can also identify the severity of the disease.

For HIV-infected women in good immune health, taking a three-drug regimen during pregnancy prevents mother-to-child HIV transmission more effectively than taking one drug during pregnancy, another during labor and two more after giving birth, an international clinical trial has found.

Nearly half of all cases of diabetes during pregnancy could be prevented if the expecting mothers ate well, exercised regularly, stopped smoking, and maintained a healthy body weight before pregnancy, a new study finds.

A study by a National Institutes of Health research network calls into question plans to increase access to steroid treatment for pregnant women in low resource settings at high risk for preterm birth. The study concluded that the treatment—a standard, life-saving practice in high income countries such as the United States—could potentially cause harm in low resource settings where many births take place outside the advance care hospitals that are standard in high income countries.

It’s normal for most women to gain weight during pregnancy, but gaining too much weight can pose serious health risks for mother and baby. Now researchers funded in part by the National Institutes of Health have found that an integrated program offering support and nutrition counseling succeeds where the traditional approaches failed and helps keep women from adding too much weight during pregnancy.