News & Updates

Bed sharing-the practice of letting babies sleep in an adult bed with a parent or caregiver-is increasing in the United States, according to a study by researchers at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

Having involved parents-those who know a lot about their children's friends, activities, and how they're doing in school-can help children overcome peer influence to start smoking, according to a study by a researcher at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

A study of Northern Plains Indians found that infants were less likely to die of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) if their mothers received visits from public health nurses before and after giving birth.

Researchers confirmed that a daily, combined dose of estrogen and progestin increases breast cancer risk in post menopausal women, but added that this risk begins to return to normal about six months after women stop taking the hormones.

A program that teaches parents how to set limits on their teens' driving greatly reduces the teens' chances of risky driving behavior that could lead to accidents, according to a recent study by researchers at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

Pregnant women who have low blood levels of the vitamin folate are more likely to have early miscarriages than are pregnant women who have adequate folate levels, according to a study of Swedish women by researchers at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

Researchers have conducted the most definitive study of its kind to show that sleeping on the stomach increases the risk of U.S. infants for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Women who have endometriosis are more likely than other women to have disorders in which the immune system attacks the body's own tissues, according to researchers at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the George Washington University, and the Endometriosis Association.

Two experimental compounds prevent one of the cellular events that is a likely contributor to fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), according to a new study supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).

In contrast to the pattern seen with singleton births, twins born to older mothers do not appear to have a greater risk of birth complications than do twins born to younger mothers, according to a recent study by researchers at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the University of Kansas.

Whether from a charging lion, or a pending deadline, the body's response to stress can be both helpful and harmful.

A new study confirms earlier reports that Depo-Provera, an injectable contraceptive popular among young and low-income American women, is strongly associated with bone density loss.

Women with spontaneous premature ovarian failure (POF) are three hundred times more likely than members of the general population to develop a serious condition in which the body attacks the adrenal glands, according to a study by researchers at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

Children who are poor readers appear to have a disruption in the part of their brain involved in reading phonetically, according to a sophisticated brain imaging study funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

Scientists funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) have developed a new mouse model for Rett syndrome - a heartbreaking disorder which gradually robs apparently healthy infants of their language, mental functioning, and ability to interact with others.

A new technology that allows physicians and researchers to make detailed, three-dimensional maps of nerve pathways in the brain, heart muscle fibers, and other soft tissues has been licensed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

During the 1990's, the pattern of early infections among very low birth weight (VLBW) infants changed significantly, according to a Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)- funded study that appears in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Scientists at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the University of South Florida, Tampa, have come one step closer to identifying the cause of uterine fibroids - a condition that affects up to 70 percent of all reproductive age women and can lead to heavy menstrual bleeding, pain, and in some cases, infertility.

Children in America are less likely to die during infancy than they were in previous years, less likely to smoke in 8th or 10th grade, and less likely to give birth during adolescence, according to the 6th annual report, America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2002.

Researchers funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) have come one step closer to identifying one of the causes of previously unexplained mental retardation.