Author: Jodi Snare

NIH Study Suggests Limiting Sugary Drinks at Home Most Effective in Efforts to Cut Childhood Sugar Consumption

Posted on by Jodi Snare

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Through a computer simulation based on data collected over several years from thousands of real children, researchers with NIH’s Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program found that limiting access to sugary drinks just in the home could reduce overall consumption of these beverages by as much as 87%.

Health experts have long recognized the need to reduce the consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks among U.S. children. However, large-scale interventions have been costly and shown limited effects. ECHO researchers used computer modeling to simulate interventions and measure their impact on reducing consumption in different populations.

This study examined data from children ages 2 to 7 years in three ECHO research sites across the U.S. These children spent time in different environments as they grew—home, childcare, and school—where they had varying access to sugary beverages.

In the simulation, by limiting access to sugary drinks in the home, the researchers found that overall consumption of these drinks by a child could be reduced by as much as 87%. Reducing the availability of sugar-sweetened drinks at schools and childcare facilities also proved helpful in curbing consumption, but the overall decreases were lower than those that could be gained by reducing consumption in the home setting. The study revealed that the amount of reduction also varied among different groups of children simulated.

"These findings highlight the importance of tailoring interventions to reduce sugar-sweetened drink consumption based on the characteristics and needs of specific populations," said Matt Kasman, PhD, of Brookings Institution. "Using computer modeling, we can gain valuable insights to develop effective and targeted strategies."

In future studies, researchers plan to include older children and explore the consumption of other foods and beverages with health implications.

Dr. Kasman led this collaborative research published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine.

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About ECHO: Launched in 2016, the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program is a research program in the Office of the Director at the NIH with the mission to enhance the health of children for generations to come. ECHO investigators study the effects of a broad range of early environmental influences on child health and development. For more information, visit echochildren.org.

About the NIH: NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information, visit www.nih.gov.

Media Contacts

For information or to request an interview, contact Rebekah Yeager,  rebekah.yeager@nih.gov.

If you are not a member of the media, but have a general inquiry, please contact  NIHKidsandEnvironment@od.nih.gov.

Connect With Us

echo connectorCheck out the recent issues of our bi-monthly newsletter, the ECHO Connector, for program news and the latest research findings.

To receive the ECHO Connector through email, subscribe here.

Follow @ECHOChildHealth for the latest ECHO Program updates on Twitter.

ECHO Researchers Use Computer Modeling to Tailor Strategies to Cut Sugar-sweetened Beverage Consumption in Children

Posted on by Jodi Snare

Collaborative ECHO research led by Matt Kasman, PhD, of The Brookings Institution, used computer modeling to help tailor effective strategies to reduce sugar-sweetened beverage consumption in children. This research, titled “Childhood Sugar-sweetened Beverage Consumption: An Agent-based Model of Context-specific Reduction Efforts,” is published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Health experts have long recognized the need to reduce the consumption of sugary drinks among children in the U.S. Large-scale interventions have been expensive and have shown limited effects. ECHO researchers used computer modeling to simulate interventions and measured their impact on reducing consumption in different populations. In the study, data from children ages 2 to 7 years old from three ECHO research sites were input into a computational model of childhood sugar-sweetened beverage consumption.

Researchers found that limiting access to sugary drinks in the home is key, with the potential to reduce childhood consumption by as much as 87%. Reducing sugar-sweetened drink availability at school and childcare facilities was also helpful. The amount of the reductions also varied between the groups of children simulated.

“These findings highlight the importance of tailoring interventions to reduce sugar-sweetened drink consumption based on the characteristics and needs of specific populations,” said Dr. Kasman. “Using computer modeling, we can gain valuable insights to develop effective and targeted strategies.”

In future studies, researchers plan to include older children and adjust computer models to explore the consumption of other foods and beverages with health implications. A summary of a previous study that applied computational modeling to a single ECHO research site can be found here.

Read the research summary.

NIH Study Suggests Association Between Prenatal Depression and Greater Autism-related Traits in Children

Posted on by Jodi Snare

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Children of mothers with prenatal depression had slightly more autism-related traits compared to those without that exposure, according to a study funded by the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program at the National Institutes of Health.

While this study didn’t explore why this association might exist, future research could investigate whether these findings reflect overlap in genetic risk for depression and autism-related traits or another mechanism.

Prior studies linked prenatal depression and depression history to autism spectrum disorder, but this study focused broadly on autism-related traits.  By studying social communication and other autism-related traits, researchers can better understand how prenatal depression influences these traits, which may show up in children without an official diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder.

“Autism-related traits can significantly impact a child's physical, social, and psychological development, regardless of their clinical diagnosis. Screening and treating pregnant patients for depression and detecting autism-related traits in these children early on can lead to timely support of healthy development and outcomes for mothers and children,” said study author Lyndsay Avalos, PhD, MPH, of Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research.

The analysis included 3,994 parent-child pairs with prenatal depression data and 1,730 pairs with depression severity data from 33 ECHO research sites across the United States. Autism-related traits were assessed using the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) for children up to 12 years of age.

Dr. Avalos and Lisa Croen, PhD, also of Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research, led this collaborative research published in Autism Research.

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About ECHO: Launched in 2016, the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program is a research program in the Office of the Director at the NIH with the mission to enhance the health of children for generations to come. ECHO investigators study the effects of a broad range of early environmental influences on child health and development. For more information, visit echochildren.org.

About the NIH: NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information, visit www.nih.gov.

Media Contacts

For information or to request an interview, contact Rebekah Yeager,  rebekah.yeager@nih.gov.

If you are not a member of the media, but have a general inquiry, please contact  NIHKidsandEnvironment@od.nih.gov.

Connect With Us

echo connectorCheck out the recent issues of our bi-monthly newsletter, the ECHO Connector, for program news and the latest research findings.

To receive the ECHO Connector through email, subscribe here.

Follow @ECHOChildHealth for the latest ECHO Program updates on Twitter.

New ECHO Research Suggests Link Between Prenatal Depression and Autism-related Traits

Posted on by Jodi Snare

Collaborative ECHO research led by Lyndsay A. Avalos, PhD and Lisa A. Croen, PhD of Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research investigates the potential link between prenatal depression or a history of depression prior to pregnancy and autism-related traits in children. This research, titled “Prenatal Depression and Risk of Child Autism-Related Traits Among Participants in the Environmental influences On Child Health Outcomes Program,” is published in Autism Research.

Previous research suggests an association between prenatal depression or a history of depression prior to pregnancy and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children, but most studies have focused on a formal ASD diagnosis, rather than autism-related traits.

This study examined parent-child pairs at 33 prenatal and pediatric research sites in the United States. The primary analysis included 3,994 parent-child pairs with prenatal depression diagnosis data; a secondary analysis included 1,730 parent-child pairs with depression severity data. Children of mothers with prenatal depression had slightly more autism-related traits compared to those without. The association was similar among boys and girls. Prenatal depression also increased the likelihood of moderate to severe autism-related traits, indicating a higher likelihood of ASD diagnosis.

“Autism-related traits can significantly impact a child’s physical, social, and psychological development, regardless of their clinical diagnosis. Screening and treating pregnant patients for depression and detecting autism-related traits in these children early on can lead to timely support of healthy development and outcomes for mothers and children,” said study author Dr. Avalos.

This study adds to the understanding of how prenatal depression may be associated with neurodevelopment in children, such as social communication and behavioral characteristics that may not reach a clinical threshold but can still impact a child’s social and behavioral functioning. These findings highlight the need for early ASD screening for children whose parents had prenatal depression to promote early intervention and support their healthy development. Mental health screening and prevention efforts for depression in pregnant individuals could also be beneficial.

Read the research summary.

New ECHO Research Finds Higher Caregiver Stress Levels Linked to Sleep Issues in Children

Posted on by Jodi Snare

Collaborative ECHO research led by Maxwell Mansolf, PhD and Courtney K. Blackwell, PhD, of Northwestern University investigates the potential link between poor sleep health of school-age children and stress experienced by their caregivers. This research, titled “Caregiver Perceived Stress and Child Sleep Health: An Item-Level Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis,” is published in the  Journal of Child and Family Studies.

Up to 50% of children and adolescents in the United States might experience sleep problems, which is an issue because poor sleep can negatively impact brain development, learning, and physical and emotional well-being.

There have been prior studies suggesting a link between poor sleep in children and stress experienced by their caregivers, but those were mainly limited to infants and young children. This study involved school-age children and teens, specifically 2,641 children between the ages of 6 and 18 from 12 ECHO research sites.

Caregivers participating in the study completed the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) to provide data about their personal stress levels. They also completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), a parent-reported survey that provides information about a child’s well-being, including their sleep habits. Responses from the PSS and CBCL were compared and analyzed to evaluate how caregiver stress affected child sleep patterns, particularly by looking at CBCL responses that addressed children’s experiences with nightmares, insomnia, ongoing tiredness, and excessive and troubled sleep.

The study found that children whose caregivers reported increased perceived stress from their life circumstances may be at higher risk for sleep issues, reaffirming existing links between caregiver psychosocial state and child well-being. This association was consistent across different groups of child and caregiver pairs studied, even after accounting for mental and physical health conditions, highlighting the importance of screening for caregiver stress to create plans for children who may be at risk for sleep issues.

“This research suggests that children whose caregivers are under increased stress may be at particular risk for sleep issues, and screening for caregiver stress may represent a potential pathway for screening and intervention of child sleep issues,” said Dr. Mansolf. “This research also demonstrates the utility of cross-cohort harmonization, as responses from multiple versions of the Perceived Stress Scale were harmonized for use here.”

Future sleep interventions may consider a more global approach to improving child and adolescent sleep health. Continued research on the factors that influence family health and well-being may guide interventions that address the entire family and the dynamics of the family relationship.

Read the research summary.

Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Research and New Opportunities from the ECHO Program

Posted on by Jodi Snare

This month’s Connector showcases a recent ECHO study that explores the relationship between maternal exposure to Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) during pregnancy and obesity risk among children. You can learn more about all recent ECHO PFAS studies on ECHOChildren.org’s PFAS research webpage.

Additionally, ECHO is searching for its next Deputy Director to help shape the future of child health research as part of the leadership team for this unique program. I invite you to share this opportunity with your networks. You can learn more here.

We are also pleased to announce our two newest notices of funding opportunities. The awards from these opportunities for postdoctoral fellows and doctoral candidates, respectively, both provide a chance to study child health outcomes by performing secondary analyses of ECHO’s large longitudinal data sets within the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Development Data and Specimen Hub (DASH) repository. The knowledge and experience generated by these two opportunities will help ECHO pursue its goal of providing a national resource.

NIH Study Suggests Maternal Inflammation Risk Factors Associated With Children’s Behavioral and Emotional Regulation

Posted on by Jodi Snare

Maternal inflammation risk factors may be associated with dysregulation in children, according to a study funded by the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program at the National Institutes of Health. “Dysregulation” in this context refers to children’s attention, anxiety and depression, and aggression being measurably different from what is typically expected at their age.

While inflammation is a normal bodily response to injury or infection, ECHO investigators wanted to learn whether factors linked to inflammation during pregnancy might be associated with dysregulation in children.

More youth with dysregulation (35%) were born to mothers with prenatal infections compared with 28% of youth without dysregulation. Other maternal factors studied, including being overweight before pregnancy, attaining less education, and smoking during pregnancy, were associated with higher likelihoods of childhood dysregulation. Children and adolescents who had a parent or sibling with a mental health disorder were also more likely to experience dysregulation.

“Addressing factors and treating conditions associated with behavior challenges may help improve outcomes for these children,” said Jean Frazier, MD, of the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School and a leader of the study.

Researchers used the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) to measure aggressive behavior, anxiety/depression, and attention problems in children. Approximately 13.4 % of children and adolescents in the study met the criteria for the CBCL Dysregulation Profile.

This study included 4,595 participants (ages 6-18 years) from 18 ECHO research sites across the United States.

Dr. Frazier and Mike O’Shea, MD, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill led this collaborative research published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

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About ECHO: ECHO is a nationwide research program supported by the NIH. Launched in 2016, ECHO aims to enhance the health of children for generations to come. ECHO investigators study the effects of a broad range of early environmental influences on child health and development. For more information, visit echochildren.org.

About the NIH: NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information, visit www.nih.gov.

Media Contacts

For information or to request an interview, contact Rebekah Yeager,  rebekah.yeager@nih.gov.

If you are not a member of the media, but have a general inquiry, please contact  NIHKidsandEnvironment@od.nih.gov.

Connect With Us

echo connectorCheck out the recent issues of our bi-monthly newsletter, the ECHO Connector, for program news and the latest research findings.

To receive the ECHO Connector through email, subscribe here.

Follow @ECHOChildHealth for the latest ECHO Program updates on Twitter.

ECHO Researchers Investigate Association Between Maternal Inflammation Risk Factors and Dysregulation in Children

Posted on by Jodi Snare

Collaborative ECHO research led by Jean Frazier, MD, of the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School and Mike O’Shea, MD, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill investigated how factors linked with inflammation during pregnancy might be associated with dysregulation in children after birth. “Dysregulation” in this context refers to children’s attention, anxiety and depression, and aggression being measurably different from what is typically expected for children of their age.

Inflammation is a normal part of the body’s defense to injury or infection. The researchers found that several risk factors associated with inflammation, such as lower maternal educational attainment, pre-pregnancy obesity, prenatal infections, and prenatal tobacco use, were strongly correlated with dysregulation in offspring.

ECHO researchers collected data on maternal factors before and during pregnancy and then used the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) to identify children ages 6 to 18 with emotional, cognitive, and behavioral dysregulation. The assessments were collected between 2009 and 2021. The study involved 4,595 children and adolescents from 18 ECHO research sites across the United States.

About 13% of the children and adolescents studied were identified as having emotional and behavioral challenges. Children born to mothers with a prenatal infection had a higher risk for dysregulation later in childhood compared to children born to mothers without an infection. Lower maternal education levels, overweight before pregnancy, and smoking during pregnancy also were associated with a higher likelihood of childhood dysregulation. Children and adolescents who had a parent or sibling with a mental health disorder were more likely to experience dysregulation. Yet having a mother with gestational diabetes had no significant association with child dysregulation.

“Understanding how these factors can affect a child’s behavior can help guide interventions and support strategies to improve children’s well-being,” said Dr. Frazier.

The study highlights the importance of considering maternal inflammation risk factors when looking at children’s behavioral challenges. Future studies could explore the mechanisms linking maternal factors and childhood dysregulation, interventions for children guided by knowledge about inflammation experienced by their mother, and specific methods to prevent or mitigate the factors leading to maternal inflammation.

The research “Perinatal Factors and Emotional, Cognitive, and Behavioral Dysregulation in Childhood and Adolescence” was recently published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Read the research summary.

NIH ECHO Program Office Has Issued Notices of Funding Opportunities for Secondary Analyses of ECHO Cohort Data

Posted on by Jodi Snare

THE FUNDING APPLICATION DEADLINES HAVE PASSED

Funding Opportunities

The Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program Office has released the following Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs):

Maximizing the Scientific Value of Data Generated by the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program: Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship (F32)

Maximizing the Scientific Value of Data Generated by the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program: Dissertation Grant (R36)

ECHO is an extramurally funded program maintained within the Office of the Director at the NIH, with the mission to enhance the health of children for generations to come.

The goal of the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship (F32) is to provide opportunities for postdoctoral fellows to study child health outcomes through the secondary analyses of ECHO’s large longitudinal data sets within the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Development Data and Specimen Hub (DASH) repository.

The goal of the Dissertation Grant (R36) is to support doctoral candidates studying applicable areas of child health for the completion of their doctoral dissertation research project. This funding opportunity will provide students working on dissertations the opportunity to access the ECHO data within the DASH repository.

ECHO’s DASH data set integrates deidentified longitudinal data from more than 41,000 participants across the U.S. and focuses on child health outcomes including pre-, peri- and postnatal outcomes; upper and lower airway health; obesity; neurodevelopment; and positive health.

Available deidentified data includes:

  • Demographic information including race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, and education
  • Early development data including growth, milestones, physical activity, and sleep
  • Environmental exposure data including physical, chemical, psychosocial, and natural and built environments
  • Pregnancy and birth information including maternal diet and physical activity, maternal smoking during pregnancy, weight gain, and delivery outcomes
  • Data related to public health crises including surveys on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

NIH encourages applications from candidates from diverse backgrounds, including those from underrepresented groups as described in the Notice of NIH’s Interest in Diversity (NOT-OD-20-031).

If you have questions, please reach out to Clay Mash: clay.mash@nih.gov.

Pre-Recorded Informational Webinars

ECHO F32 Pre-App webinar

ECHO R36 Pre-App webinar

Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions — Maximizing the Scientific Value of Data Generated by the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program, RFA-OD-23-019, RFA-OD-23-020

New Publication Highlights ECHO Program’s Contribution to Studying COVID-19 Pandemic’s Effect on Child Health and Well-being

Posted on by Jodi Snare

Frontiers in Pediatrics recently published an article, titled “Opportunities for Understanding the COVID-19 Pandemic and Child Health in the United States: The Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program,” describing the ECHO Program’s unique opportunity to contribute to knowledge about the pandemic’s effects on child health outcomes. The article also provides an overview of ECHO data related to COVID-19, which is now publicly accessible through the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development’s (NICHD) Data and Specimen Hub (DASH).

Data that ECHO collected during the pandemic can help researchers understand how pandemic-related social and economic disruptions and COVID-19 infection may have affected the health and well-being of children in the United States.

Established in 2016 by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the ECHO Program focuses on solution-oriented research in five key areas of health—preconception, pregnancy, and birth; breathing; body weight; brain development; and well-being—to identify factors affecting child health outcomes and methods for improving those outcomes. By 2019, ECHO research sites had pooled existing data and collected additional data from enrolled children and caregivers.

In April 2020, the program used that unified infrastructure to quickly roll out a novel ECHO COVID-19 questionnaire to capture family experiences during the pandemic. The questionnaire included three versions: caregiver self-report, adolescent self-report, and caregiver report for children 12 years and younger. This original questionnaire aimed to assess COVID-19 infection rates, access to health services, changes in employment, and changes in mental and physical health among children and parents.

As the pandemic evolved, ECHO modified the survey to capture the effects of vaccines and remote schooling. From April 1, 2020, to August 31, 2021, 60 ECHO research sites examined COVID-19-related environmental conditions and health outcomes among 13,725 children and their caregivers. The children ranged in age from early childhood through adolescence and up to age 21.

While continuing to collect data in person, as allowed, the ECHO Program shifted partially to remote data collection methods, including remote collection of biospecimens, online surveys, phone-based questionnaires, and telehealth assessments. The program also expanded to include time-sensitive evaluations of COVID-19 infection rates and pandemic-related mental and social impacts.

ECHO data collected during the pandemic can be used to conduct solution-oriented research to inform the development of programs and policies to support child health during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, the ECHO Program has already used this data to publish studies describing families’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects the pandemic has had on children’s screen time, sleep habits, behavior, and well-being; infant development; and mothers’ mental health.

This data is now publicly available through the DASH website. ECHO data on DASH includes information collected on a diverse group of more than 41,299 participants across the U.S. and can serve as a resource for the scientific community.