News

New tools estimate fetal growth percentiles and velocity, and they account for racial and ethnic variations.

Researchers to evaluate medical records of 21,000 pregnant women

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

Research on the causes of and effective treatments for endometriosis is a high priority for NICHD. Our grantees share their findings and ongoing research.

Gene modifications correspond to blood pressure increases at distinct pregnancy intervals.

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

Women who breastfed their infants exclusively for 7 to 12 months may have a significantly lower risk of early menopause than their peers who breastfed their infants for less than a month, according to an analysis funded by the National Institutes of Health.

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

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.

A new imaging technique to track maternal blood flow to the placenta has the potential to help diagnose several common complications in early pregnancy, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Researchers used the technique, referred to as pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling magnetic resonance imaging (pCASL MRI), to identify women with reduced placental blood flow who later developed one or more complications.

Sleeping on the back or side through the 30th week of pregnancy does not appear to increase the risk of stillbirth, reduced size at birth, or high blood pressure disorders of pregnancy, suggests an analysis funded by the NICHD.

Blood levels of omega-6 fatty acids produced in the body could influence the likelihood of developing gestational diabetes, suggests a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions. However, the researchers found no association with gestational diabetes from consuming foods containing omega-6 fatty acids, such as vegetable oils, nuts, and seeds.

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.

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

Infants born to mothers taking the drug naltrexone to treat opioid use disorder showed no signs of drug withdrawal and had shorter hospital stays than infants born to mothers undergoing the standard treatment, according to a small study funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Elevated blood pressure in the first trimester of pregnancy, or an increase in blood pressure between the first and second trimesters, raises the chances of a high blood pressure disorder of pregnancy, according to a study funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), part of the National Institutes of Health.

Long-acting contraception after childbirth could help teens avoid short-interval pregnancies, suggests NIH-funded study.

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

In an editorial, Diana W. Bianchi, M.D., NICHD Director and Matthew W. Gillman, M.D., S.M., emphasize that women and children bear a substantial burden of the U.S. opioid epidemic and that coordinated, long-term research is essential to filling knowledge gaps about how opioids affect women and children.