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.
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.
Media Advisory: Change in Medicaid reimbursement may reduce rate of closely spaced births among teens
Long-acting contraception after childbirth could help teens avoid short-interval pregnancies, suggests NIH-funded study.
Media Advisory: NIH-funded study links microbiome composition to preterm birth risk among African American women
A research project funded by the National Institutes of Health has identified differences in the vaginal bacteria that may raise the risk of preterm birth among pregnant African American women. The findings could be a first step toward the development of a screen for the early identification of preterm birth risk in this population.
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.
Science Update: Stress during pregnancy may increase child’s risk of depression in adolescence
Maternal stress during pregnancy may influence fetal brain development in ways that increase the risk of depression by early adolescence, suggests a small study funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Release: NIH scientists call attention to the impact of opioids on women and children
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.
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.
Science Update: The earlier in pregnancy a woman quits smoking, the lower the chance of preterm birth, NICHD-funded analysis suggests
The earlier in pregnancy a woman quits smoking, the less likely she is to give birth preterm, according to an analysis funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Similarly, the study found that the more a pregnant woman smoked, the higher her chances for preterm birth.
Science Update: Arthritis drug reduces Zika birth defects in mice, according to NIH-funded study
An arthritis drug reduced the severity of Zika virus-related birth defects and improved survival among baby mice, according to a study funded in part by the National Institutes of Health.
Release: Daily folic acid supplement may reduce risk of gestational diabetes
Taking a folic acid supplement daily before pregnancy may reduce the risk of gestational, or pregnancy-related, diabetes, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.
Science Update: Emergency cesarean delivery may increase child’s risk for asthma, food allergy, NICHD-funded study suggests
Birth by emergency cesarean delivery is associated with a higher risk for wheezing (a possible indication of asthma) and food allergy, suggests an analysis funded by the NICHD. Children who were breast fed after cesarean delivery did not have an indication of higher asthma risk but did have an elevated risk for food allergy.
Media Advisory: NIH to Host Community Engagement Forum on Improving Maternal Health
On April 8, 2019, join community organizations and healthcare professionals to discuss strategies for reducing the rising rate of maternal deaths in the United States.
Media Advisory: NIH-led task force on pregnancy and lactation receives two-year renewal
Secretary of Health and Human Services renews task force for an additional two years. Task force members will offer guidance and advice on implementing 15 recommendations they submitted in September 2018.
Item of Interest: NICHD Data and Specimen Hub (DASH) Releases New Biospecimen Request Functionality
Now available in DASH: Researchers can request access to NICHD biospecimens for secondary analyses.
Media Advisory: Lower costs associated with late-preterm steroid therapy, NIH-funded analysis finds
An analysis of a previous study has found more evidence to support giving the steroid betamethasone to pregnant women at risk of late-preterm delivery (between 34 and 36 weeks of gestation), according to a network funded by the National Institutes of Health. Hospital stays for infants whose mothers received the drug cost less on average, compared to stays for infants whose mothers did not take the drug.
Science Update: Prenatal supplement may protect obese offspring from high blood pressure, NICHD-funded study suggests
Obese and overweight young children whose mothers took DHA—a fat found in fish oil—during pregnancy had lower average blood pressure than those whose mothers did not take the supplement during pregnancy, according to a study funded by the NICHD.
Media Advisory: Rate of life-threatening childbirth complications increasing sharply across U.S. racial, ethnic groups
Racial and ethnic disparities in severe maternal morbidity—life-threatening maternal complications associated with childbirth—have persisted and increased at high rates among U.S. women, according to an analysis of nearly 20 years of California hospital records funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Spotlight: Food for Health: Nutrition Research across the Lifespan
Nutrition is vital to health, growth, and development through all stages of life. Poor nutrition causes health problems and can contribute to heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, cancer, and other diseases. NIH recently released a draft of its first-ever Strategic Plan for NIH Nutrition Research to focus efforts in advancing the scientific understanding of interactions between diet, nutritional status, biological processes, and the environment.
Media Advisory: Inexpensive supplement for women increases infant birth size
For women in resource-poor settings, taking a certain daily nutritional supplement before conception or in early pregnancy may provide enough of a boost to improve growth of the fetus, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health.