The ECHO Coordinating Center is pleased to announce that the NIH ECHO Program Office has selected 11 investigators to receive research funding through the ECHO Opportunities and Innovation Fund (OIF). The OIF is an NIH-funded grant mechanism to support early career investigators on projects that can introduce new research, tools, and technologies in the ECHO Program. Each OIF investigator is sponsored ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   Study reveals a complex link between pregnancy exposure to common chemicals and childhood obesity, researchers say. Exposure to organophosphate esters (OPEs)-chemicals found in everyday products that use plastics and flame retardants-during pregnancy may have varying effects on the risks of childhood obesity, according to a new study funded by the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program at the ...

Residence in redlined census tracts during pregnancy was associated with higher exposure to PM2.5 and lower birth weight in a recent study funded by the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program. Redlining is the historical practice of designating certain neighborhoods, often where minority groups lived, as risky investments for lenders. Additionally, living in ungraded census tracts was linked to elevated ...

Collaborative ECHO research led by Elizabeth Kaplan-Kahn, PhD, Kristen Lyall, ScD of the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute at Drexel University and Heather Volk, PhD, MPH of the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University investigates the factors that influence the overall health and well-being of people on the autism spectrum. This research, titled “Describing Multidomain Health Outcomes in ...

ECHO Research Spotlight — September 2024 ECHO researchers led by Emily Barrett, PhD, MA of the Rutgers University School of Public Health published a scoping review of existing ECHO research that evaluates the impact of chemical exposures on maternal and child health. A scoping review summarizes and provides an overview of the past and current research on a topic at a ...

The BREATHE (Bronchiolitis Recovery and the Use of HEPA Filters) study successfully reached its recruitment goal ahead of schedule and has maintained high participant retention with a 94.5% survey completion rate. This clinical trial, part of the ECHO IDeA States Pediatric Clinical Trials Network (ISPCTN), focuses on airway health outcomes of infants hospitalized for bronchiolitis. The study, launched in November 2022 ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   The study explores the effects of low-income, low-food-access neighborhoods on children’s obesity over time. Children who faced food insecurity during early childhood-or whose mothers experienced it during pregnancy-had a higher body mass index (BMI) and more than 50% increased chance of developing obesity or severe obesity in childhood and adolescence, according to a new study funded by the NIH ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   Eating any amount of fish during pregnancy was associated with about a 20% lower likelihood of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis, particularly in females, and a slight reduction in autism-related traits in offspring, according to a new study funded by the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program at the National Institutes of Health. However, researchers did not ...

Collaborative ECHO research led by Chaela Nutor, MA and Patricia A. Brennan, PhD of Emory University investigates the association between prenatal cannabis exposure and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The study looked at data from 11,570 school-aged children from across the United States and found no evidence that prenatal cannabis exposure increases the likelihood of ASD, regardless of the child’s sex ...

Collaborative ECHO research led by Himal Suthar, MIDS and Max Aung, PhD of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles investigates the association between the concentration of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the blood of pregnant participants with levels of bioactive lipids from three metabolic pathways. This research, titled “Cross-Sectional Associations between Prenatal Per- and Poly-Fluoroalkyl Substances and Bioactive ...