NICHD - News Releases

09/11/08		Public Comment: DRAFT Pregnancy and Perinatology (PP) Branch Report to Council
Each component of the NICHD reports its activities to the National Advisory Child Health and Human Development (NACHHD) Council, the federal advisory committee for the NICHD. The NACHHD Council follows all regulations set forth in the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

06/19/08		Surgeon General's Conference Outlines Agenda to Prevent Preterm Birth
Experts convened by the National Institutes of Health for the Office of the Surgeon General released an agenda today for activities in the public and private sectors to reduce the nation’s rate of preterm birth. The agenda calls for a national system to better understand the occurrence of preterm birth and a national education program to help women reduce their chances of giving birth prematurely.

04/16/08		NIH Study Reveals Factors That Influence Premature Infant Survival, Disability
Based on observations of more than 4,000 infants, researchers in an NIH newborn research network have identified several factors that influence an extremely low birth weight infant’s chances for survival and disability. The findings offer new information to physicians and families considering the most appropriate treatment options for this category of infants.

11/05/07		SIDS Risk Reduction Continuing Education Program Emphasizes Important Role of Nurses in Health Care
The National Institutes of Health has created a continuing education program designed to help nurses communicate the risk factors for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) to parents and child caregivers. Nurses are a key information resource for new parents and often spend the most time with families in the hospital following the birth of a child.

07/13/07		Report Shows Gains, Setbacks for Nation's Children
Compared to national statistics for the previous year, there has been an increase in the percentage of children living with at least one working parent and the percentage of children living in households classified as food insecure has declined. High school students were more likely to have taken advanced academic courses and the percentage of young adults who completed high school has increased. The adolescent birth rate has dropped to a record low.

05/23/07		Small Infants Have Greater Survival Rate in High Level Intensive Care Facilities
Very low birth weight infants are significantly more likely to survive when delivered in hospitals with high-level neonatal intensive care units that care for more than 100 such newborns annually than are those delivered in comparable facilities that provide care to fewer than 100 such children every year.

02/23/07		Experimental Vaccine Given During Pregnancy Reduces Stillbirths from Common Virus
Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have developed an experimental vaccine that reduces stillbirths among rodents born to mothers infected with cytomegalovirus (CMV)—a common virus that can also cause mental retardation and hearing loss in newborn children who were infected in early fetal life.

10/31/06		SIDS Infants Show Abnormalities In Brain Area Controlling Breathing, Heart Rate
Infants who die of sudden infant death syndrome have abnormalities in the brainstem, a part of the brain that helps control heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, temperature and arousal, report researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health.

10/30/06		Backgrounder: Searching For Those at Greatest Risk For SIDS
The current study appears in the November 1 Journal of the American Medical Association provides additional evidence that brainstem abnormalities may impair an infant's ability to sense high carbon dioxide and low oxygen levels.

07/14/06		Adolescent Birth Rate Falls to Record Low, Kids' Exposure to Secondhand Smoke Drops
Adolescent Birth Rate Falls to Record Low, Kids' Exposure to Secondhand Smoke Drops Infant Mortality Rate Falls to Former Level, But Birth Rate for Unmarried Women Rises.

02/08/06		Common Reflux Treatment Linked to Life Threatening Bowel Infection in Premature Infants
Researchers in an NIH network have found that premature infants given a common class of non-prescription drugs used to treat acid reflux are slightly more likely to develop a potentially fatal bowel disorder than are infants who are not treated with the drugs.

01/18/06		NICHD Alerts Parents to Winter SIDS Risk and Updated AAP Recommendations
The number of infants who die from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS, increases in the cold winter months, according to the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), one of the National Institutes of Health. During these colder months, parents often place extra blankets or clothes on infants, hoping to provide them with more warmth. In fact, the extra material may actually increase infants' risk for SIDS.

07/20/05		America's Children: Family Structure and Children's Well-Being (Backgrounder)
New to the report this year is a special section presenting five indicators of child well-being analyzed by family structure. The indicators are: percentage of births that are low and very low birthweight; death rates among infants; percentage of adolescents ages 15-17 enrolled in school; percentage of adolescents ages 15-17 reported to be in excellent or very good health; and percentage of adolescent girls who became unmarried birthmothers by ages 17-19.

07/20/05		America's Children: Parents Report Estimated 2.7 Million Children with Emotional and Behavioral Problems (Backgrounder)
A special feature in the report, America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being 2005 shows that nearly 5 percent, or an estimated 2.7 million children are reported by their parents to suffer from definite or severe emotional or behavioral difficulties, problems that may interfere with their family life, their ability to learn, and their formation of friendships. These difficulties may persist throughout a child's development and lead to lifelong disability, including more serious illness, more difficult to treat illness, and co-occurring mental illnesses.

07/20/05		America's Children: Teen Birth Rate Continues Decline, Fewer Childhood Deaths, More Children Immunized Children More Likely to Live in Poverty, Be Involved in Violent Crime
The adolescent birth rate has reached another record low, the death rate for children between ages 1 and 4 is the lowest ever, young children are more likely to receive their recommended immunizations, and fourth graders are scoring better in math, according to a yearly compendium of statistics from federal agencies concerned with children.

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If you are a member of the media and have questions about an NICHD news release or research, or if you would like to schedule an interview with an NICHD scientist or grantee, please contact the Public Information and Communications Branch at 301-496-5133 or by fax at 301-496-7101.