News

NICHD's Dr. Donna Mazloomdoost, program director for the Pelvic Floor Disorders Network, explains problems of the pelvic floor, which affect as many as 1 in 3 women in the U.S.

NICHD research aims to improve understanding of diseases and conditions that affect women.

NICHD Director Dr. Diana Bianchi shares some thoughts about joining NICHD.

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).

As National Women’s Health Week (May 12 to 18) gets underway this year, the NICHD takes stock of 15 years of research on diagnosing, preventing, and treating PFDs—a groups of conditions that particularly affect women.

On December, 13, 2011, the NICHD collaborated with the Foundation for the NIH to host a scientific symposium to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the NCMRR and to provide a forum for discussions of the Center’s history and accomplishments.

On December 5, 2012, the NICHD released the Scientific Vision: The Next Decade, the culmination of a collaborative process that began in 2011 to identify the most promising scientific opportunities for the Institute and the research community to pursue over the next decade. The Vision statement was made available during the NICHD’s 50th anniversary colloquium.

​Alan Guttmacher, M.D., Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) announced a number of changes to streamline the institute’s organizational structure and accelerate the exchange of scientific ideas.

A document charting a research course for the many collaborators who share an interest in promoting the science concerning human development through the life span, child health, women's health, and rehabilitation research is now available online.

As the Institute marks its golden anniversary, we look back on the NICHD's early years, its scientific accomplishments, and its future.

​Oral medication for treating a type of incontinence in women is roughly as effective as Botox injections to the bladder, reported researchers who conducted a National Institutes of Health clinical trials network study, with each form of treatment having benefits and limitations.

Surgery to repair pelvic organ prolapse often carries a risk of incontinence. To avoid scheduling a second surgery, some women may opt to have a second procedure to reduce incontinence at the time of their prolapse repair surgery.

Nearly 24 percent of U.S. women are affected with one or more pelvic floor disorders, report researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health. Their analysis is the first to document in a nationally representative sample the extent of pelvic floor disorders, a cluster of health problems that causes physical discomfort and limits activity.

By performing two surgical procedures during the same operation, researchers in an NIH network reduced by half the incidence of urinary incontinence in women with a condition known as pelvic organ prolapse.