How do a pregnant person’s environment, diet, stress, medications, and social well-being affect their pregnancy? Down the road -; what about the health of their child?
This is the focus of a new two-year study by scientists at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Ann & Robert H. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact it has on people.
The scientists recently received a $5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to join a national consortium. Environmental Influences on theChild Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program – This study investigates how perinatal and early childhood environments and experiences influence the health of children as they grow and develop. While other award winners will focus on asthma and pediatric cardiometabolic health, Northwestern University and Lurie Children’s scientists will focus specifically on people with disabilities who have historically been left out of medical research. guess.
ECHO is a large national cohort on child health, and this study finally includes the children’s mothers. There is much to learn about the mother-child dyadic relationship and the two-way ways they influence each other. We recruit a very diverse group of pregnant people, including those who are typically excluded. ”
Dr. Lin Yi, Northwestern Co-Principal Investigator and Thomas J. Watkins Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Feinberg School of Medicine
Yi said she hopes to one day use ECHO’s findings to develop interventions to improve maternal and child health.
The national ECHO program focuses on five key pediatric outcomes that have a major impact on public health. Upper and lower respiratory tract health. obesity; neurodevelopment; and what makes people healthy. When his ECHO was first launched seven years ago, there wasn’t much emphasis on pregnancy research. Now, Northwestern and the Lurie Children’s team are participating in a new phase of his ECHO focused on recruiting pregnant people.
“This is a great opportunity to study the health of pregnant people,” Yi said. “We recruit people even before a child is born to understand the impact of maternal health and pregnancy events on the child’s well-being.”
Depending on the results of the first two years, the grant could bring in additional funding for an additional five years, for a total of $32 million over seven years.
Research on children with and without disabilities
Scientists won’t know which children will have the disorder for several years, but the goal is to recruit high-risk mothers, including those whose pregnancies may be affected by genetic differences, to reduce the final The goal is to create a group that includes more children. People with disabilities.
“I think our focus on disability goes hand-in-hand with having a broad and inclusive perspective in studying maternal and child health,” Yi said. “We are pleased to welcome all interested pregnant women to participate in this study.”
The $5 million grant is titled “Enriching the ECHO Cohort to Include High-Risk Pregnancies and Children with Disabilities (ECHO Enrichment),” and will support students with a variety of disabilities, including neurodevelopmental disorders such as ADHD and autism. Promoting disability inclusivity in ECHO research by studying children. By utilizing existing data from her ECHO participants with disabilities. The researchers also plan to work with other ECHO sites to complete additional scientific studies using data from across the consortium, including on asthma and environmental toxins.
Starting in January 2024, pregnant women up to 20 weeks of pregnancy will be recruited from the obstetric clinics at Northwestern’s Prentice Women’s Hospital and Hackensack University Medical Center.
“People with multiple births give birth earlier and have a higher risk of complications,” says Yi. “Problems that may be detected on ultrasound, such as clubfoot or brain abnormalities, may be detected by ultrasound, allowing mothers and babies who are considered ‘abnormal’ and unable to participate in other studies to be enrolled.” , they are undervalued and their development is also important.”
The study also includes a seven-year follow-up of women and their children at HUMC’s Lurie Children’s Hospital and Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital.
“This cohort will include many babies who are found to have complications during early pregnancy or the neonatal period, as well as those who are developing normally,” co-principal investigators Raymond and said Dr. Aaron Hambas, Hazel Speck Berry Professor. Chief of Neonatology at Feinberg and Lurie Children’s Hospital. “It becomes clear that a certain proportion of children have a disability as they approach school age. We usually don’t notice it at all, but the data from our study sheds light on this issue even more deeply. It will give you an opportunity to reflect as you dig deeper.”
What do scientists investigate?
One of the first areas scientists will investigate is the health of the placenta. Along with Northwestern’s Enriching ECHO co-investigators, Drs. Jeffrey Goldstein, Stephanie Fisher, Leena Mittal and others are looking for infections or inflammatory lesions, such as blood clots or other vascular problems. They will monitor it to see if it has any effect on the baby’s chances of developing autism or developmental delays.
Researchers will also collect samples of blood, urine, stool, and even teeth, nails, and hair throughout the pregnancy. For example, one test can assess a person’s stress level over the past three months by looking at cortisol levels in hair.
Also focuses on what makes the individual healthy
Scientists are also working to identify specific environmental factors associated with better-than-expected health outcomes, to determine what makes children healthy, not just what makes them sick. We also plan to work on this.
This also means studying individuals who conceive easily and experience optimal pregnancies without complications. Additionally, pregnant people enrolled in ECHO can be followed continuously between pregnancies, allowing scientists to study their pre-pregnancy health.
“We aim to recruit a large proportion of high-risk patients, including those with multiple fetuses, diabetes, a history of preterm birth, children with disabilities, maternal disabilities, and those with ultrasound abnormalities. However, they also want a “typical patient.” “Moms, too, because we’re not just looking at people with problems, we’re looking at ways to optimize their health,” Yee said.
This research is funded by NIH grant UG3OD035546.