News

The National Institutes of Health will award up to $400,000 to individuals or groups who design an effective method for analyzing a large data set of first-time pregnancies and identifying risk factors for adverse outcomes, such as hypertensive disorders, diabetes and infection. A total of $50,000 will be awarded to each of seven winners designing the most effective means to analyze the data. An additional $10,000 will be awarded to the top five winners whose methods identify risk factors in disadvantaged populations.

NICHD Director Dr. Diana Bianchi is joined by NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health Director Dr. Janine Clayton in assessing the growing maternal health crisis in the United States and describing NIH’s efforts to address it.

Looking back and looking ahead. NICHD Director Dr. Diana W. Bianchi joins other leaders across NIH in reflecting on the work of the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) program and discussing plans for the future.

For many COVID-19 patients, full recovery remains elusive even long after they should feel “better.” NIH recently announced research opportunities to understand COVID-19 long haulers, who have what researchers now refer to as Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC). NICHD joins these opportunities while remaining focused on PASC patients within our audiences of interest—pregnant and lactating people, children, and those with disabilities.

A new study funded by the National Institutes of Health will evaluate the effects of remdesivir in pregnant women who have been prescribed the drug to treat COVID-19. The study, which will be conducted at 17 sites in the continental United States and Puerto Rico, aims to determine how pregnant women metabolize the drug and whether there are any potential side effects.

Pregnant people need to be protected through research rather than from research, the authors contend.

NIH-funded study suggests mother-to-infant transmission appears to be rare

Increased stress may interfere with adjustment to new motherhood, mother-infant bonding

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

The study of approximately 16,000 pregnant women will continue 12 months after childbirth and compare maternal, fetal and newborn outcomes of participants infected with the virus to those of pregnant women who have not.

Scoring system developed by NIH-funded researchers standardizes patient data to aid research, surveillance and improvement initiatives.

Researchers to evaluate medical records of 21,000 pregnant women

Program will include lessons learned from caring for pregnant women with COVID-19.

NICHD is working with the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health to enhance coordinated activities addressing the problem of maternal morbidity and mortality.

To expand the reach of its crowdsourcing pregnancy research project, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently launched a Spanish version of PregSource®.

Read about NICHD’s notable research findings and activities from 2019.

NICHD Director Dr. Diana Bianchi looks back at 2019 and NICHD’s many amazing accomplishments.

NICHD’s new initiative—Pregnancy for Every Body—educates plus-size pregnant women about healthy pregnancy and the importance of working with a healthcare provider to develop a pregnancy plan.

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

Patient advocates, healthcare providers and researchers help map a future research agenda aimed at reducing maternal mortality and severe morbidity.