The pandemic reinforces why the NIH INCLUDE (INvestigation of Co-occurring conditions across the Lifespan to Understand Down syndromE) Project matters to families and communities.
News
NICHD issues News Releases and Media Advisories to the news media. Spotlight and Research Feature articles explain NICHD research findings and public health issues to the general public. An Item of Interest is a short announcement of relevant information, such as a notable staff change.
Director's Corner: Push to IMPROVE health outcomes for pregnant women
NIH has launched a new initiative that will combat the growing problem of maternal mortality and morbidity in the United States.
Release: NIH study suggests opioid use linked to pregnancy loss, lower chance of conception
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.
Item of Interest: NICHD fetal growth calculators available to healthcare providers
New tools estimate fetal growth percentiles and velocity, and they account for racial and ethnic variations.
Item of Interest: Biospecimens from National Children’s Study pilot now available
Environmental, biological samples span the period from preconception to early childhood.
Media Advisory: NIH-funded study to investigate pregnancy outcomes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic
Researchers to evaluate medical records of 21,000 pregnant women
Media Availability: NIH maternal mortality workshop to address conditions that increase the risk of life-threatening pregnancy complications
Program will include lessons learned from caring for pregnant women with COVID-19.
Director’s Corner: Advancing Women’s Health: Research to Reduce Maternal Mortality and Morbidity
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.
Media Advisory: Antioxidant supplements do not improve male fertility, NIH study suggests
Antioxidant supplements do not improve semen quality among men with infertility, according to a new NICHD-supported study.
Media Advisory: Maternal obesity linked to ADHD and behavioral problems in children, NIH study suggests
Maternal obesity may increase a child’s risk for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to an analysis by NICHD researchers.
Media Advisory: NIH-funded study links natural sugars in breastmilk to early childhood height and weight
Human milk oligosaccharides found in breastmilk may influence a child’s growth from infancy through early childhood, according to an NICHD-supported study.
Release: NIH’s PregSource research project now available in Spanish
To expand the reach of its crowdsourcing pregnancy research project, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently launched a Spanish version of PregSource®.
Spotlight: Selected NICHD Research Advances of 2019
Read about NICHD’s notable research findings and activities from 2019.
Spotlight: Healthy Pregnancy for Every Body
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.
Release: Higher air pollution exposure during second pregnancy may increase preterm birth risk, NIH study suggests
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.
Media Advisory: NIH scientists call for coordinated research to improve pregnancy-related health in the United States
Improved data reporting among the factors critical to reducing life-threatening complications of pregnancy and childbirth
Science Update: NIH study links high maternal genetic risk of obesity to variations in fetal weight
A high genetic risk of obesity among pregnant women is linked to fetal weight, but varies according to race, fetal sex, and other factors, according to a study by researchers at the NICHD.
Spotlight: NICHD Workshops Aim to Change Conversations About Maternal Health
Patient advocates, healthcare providers and researchers help map a future research agenda aimed at reducing maternal mortality and severe morbidity.
Spotlight: Maternal Health Research Advances
NICHD was established more than 50 years ago to help understand maternal health and improve pregnancy outcomes. These selected advances highlight NICHD’s contributions to advancing the health and well-being of pregnant women, mothers, and families everywhere.
Item of Interest: NIH-led Task Force on Pregnancy and Lactation to Host Webinar on May 22
Group seeks to enhance testing of therapeutics used by pregnant women and nursing mothers.