Children's health and human development includes more than just physical and physiological changes. Mental and emotional health and well-being are as important to a child's development. Such factors as exposure to violence, parental occupation and stress, special health care needs, injuries, and exposure to illicit and prescription drugs can have long-lasting effects on children. Addressing the needs of children with or at-risk for mental or emotional health issues can help improve their quality of life through adolescence and adulthood.
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.
NIH Obesity Research Featured in HBO's The Weight of the Nation
More than two-thirds of U.S. adults are overweight or obese, and approximately 17% of Americans ages 2 to 19 are overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Obesity increases the likelihood of many serious health problems, including heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, certain cancers, fatty liver disease, cirrhosis, liver failure, pregnancy complications, and infertility. Being overweight can be emotionally painful and can significantly impact life expectancy.
Long-term Health Effects of Extremely Low Birth Weight
In the last three decades, advances in medical technology and neonatal intensive care have significantly improved the survival rates of infants born preterm. These technologies have also helped some of the smallest preemies, called extremely low birth weight (ELBW) and defined as infants weighing less than 2.2 pounds.
Placental, Pregnancy Conditions Account for Most Stillbirths
Half of all stillbirths result from pregnancy disorders and conditions affecting the placenta, according to results reported by a National Institutes of Health network established to find the causes of stillbirth as well as ways to prevent or reduce its occurrence.
Check Out the 2010 Division of Intramural Research (DIR) Annual Report
The 2010 DIR Annual Report illustrates the impressive accomplishments that result when dozens of PIs, more than 350 trainees, and approximately 1,200 staff all work toward the same goal of improving human health.
Surgery on Fetus Reduces Complications of Spina Bifida
A surgical procedure to repair a common birth defect of the spine, if undertaken while a baby is still in the uterus, greatly reduces the need to divert, or shunt, fluid away from the brain, according to a study by the National Institutes of Health and four research institutions.
NIH Study Finds That Overweight Girls Who Lose Weight Reduce Adult Diabetes Risk
Overweight girls who lose weight before they reach adulthood greatly reduced their risk for developing type 2 diabetes, according to researchers from the National Institutes of Health and Harvard University, who analyzed 16 years of data on nearly 110,000 women.
Recovery Act Funds Key Reproductive Health Research
Millions of Americans with reproductive health disorders stand to benefit from new research funded by the National Institutes of Health. With funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the National Institutes of Health today announced grants totaling nearly $60 million for research into disorders that impair fertility, cut short a woman's reproductive years, and often cause intense pain.
Pregnancy & Healthy Weight
Findings from an NICHD study indicate that, compared to women at normal weight, women who are obese before pregnancy are much more likely to have babies with congenital heart defects, problems with the heart’s structure that are present at birth.
Risk of Newborn Heart Defects Increases with Maternal Obesity
The more obese a woman is when she becomes pregnant, the greater the likelihood that she will give birth to an infant with a congenital heart defect, according to a study conducted by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and the New York state Department of Health.
NIH Podcast Advises Women On How to Achieve a Healthy Pregnancy
Women can increase their chances for a healthy pregnancy by eating right, exercising, not smoking, and getting early medical care, says a podcast featuring a National Institutes of Health obstetrician who oversees research on pregnancy and birth.
Mothers' High Normal Blood Sugar Levels Place Infants at Risk for Birth Problems
Pregnant women with blood sugar levels in the higher range of normal--but not high enough to be considered diabetes--are more likely than women with lower blood sugar levels to give birth to babies at risk for many of the same problems seen in babies born to women with diabetes during pregnancy, according to a study funded in large part by the National Institutes of Health.
Older Mothers More Likely than Younger Mothers to Deliver By Caesarean
Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have found that older mothers with normal, full-term pregnancies-particularly first-time older mothers-were more likely to undergo Caesarean delivery than were younger women with similarly low-risk pregnancies.
Standard Therapy More Effective Than Diabetes Drug for Achieving Pregnancy in Common Fertility Disorder
Metformin, a drug used to treat diabetes and thought to hold great promise at overcoming the infertility associated with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), is less useful for helping women with the condition achieve pregnancy than is the standard treatment with the infertility drug clomiphene, report researchers in an NIH research network.
Labor Takes Longer for Overweight & Obese Women, Study Finds
Pregnant women who are overweight or obese progress through labor more slowly than do normal weight women, according to a study by researchers at the University of North Carolina and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health.
Folate Deficiency Associated with Higher Early Miscarriage Risk
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).
Moderate Weight Loss OK for Overweight Moms Who Breast Feed
Overweight mothers who breast feed their infants may lose weight through a sensible diet and exercise program-without fear of harming their infants-a study by NICHD-funded researchers has found.