Alison E. Hipwell: What Can the Preconception Period Tell Us About Maternal and Child Health? Key Takeaways: Previous research shows that maternal stress and distress during pregnancy can be linked to infant and child health outcomes, but researchers need more specific information about this relationship to design effective mental health screening and intervention strategies. Studies […]

Aris: Neighborhood Opportunities and Disparities in Child health Outcomes Smith: Lung Function Measured by Oscillometry in the Healthy Start and PETALS Cohorts Key Takeaways: Izzuddin M. Aris, PhD (Harvard Medical School) Neighborhood Opportunities and Disparities in Child Health Outcomes Many studies that examine disparities in child health outcomes focus on individual socioeconomic factors that contribute […]

Liang: Effects of prenatal exposure to Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) exposure on maternal and newborn metabolome and fetal growth: the PFAS Exposures And Child Health (PEACH) Study. Lewis: DNA methylation of myelinating genes measured in peripheral samples predicts brain white matter volume in a healthy pediatric cohort Key Takeaways: Donghai Liang, PhD, MPH (Emory University) […]

Dr. Matthew Gillman: Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) A Nationwide Resource for Child Health Research Speakers: Matthew W. Gillman, MD, SM National Institutes of Health Director, Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program         Key Takeaways: Founded in 2016, the ECHO Program has brought together over 100,000 participants and […]

Drs. Young and Devlin: Opportunities to ACT NOW for Infants with Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome Key Takeaways:  The opioid crisis has increased the number of infants who are exposed to opioids during pregnancy. Opioid-exposed newborns may develop symptoms of neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS), which includes tremors, excessive crying and irritability, and problems with sleeping […]

Dr. Claudia Thompson: Identifying and Responding to Climate Change as an Emerging Children’s Health Issue Key Takeaways:  Dr. Claudia Thompson's presentation will focus on the following topics: Overview of the NIH Climate Change and Human Health Initiative Overview of climate change on children’s health broadly Examples of climate change impacts on respiratory and neurodevelopment outcomes […]

Dr. Wei Perng: Understanding the natural history of cardiovascular health across early-life Key Takeaways:  This talk describes cohort-specific findings regarding the natural history of cardiovascular health in children and adolescents, presents objectives of a related ECHO-wide analysis, and provides an overview of pursuits for extramural funding to identify targets for primordial prevention of CVD through […]

Prenatal Air Pollution Exposure and Risk of Autism: New Insight from ECHO Cohorts Key Takeaways:  In the past decade, air pollution has substantially declined in the US because of policies informed by environmental monitoring and research. A recent analysis of EPA data shows a reversal of trends, confirming that a national decade-long trend toward better […]

Using Knowledge-Driven AI to Predict and Explain Environmental Health Outcomes in Mothers and Children Key Takeaways: As increasingly rich and complex environmental health data are collected for secondary analysis, new methods are needed to translate these data into clinically actionable knowledge. The recent explosion in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) applications hold great […]

Untargeted Analysis of Microsamplers: The Utility of Dried Capillary Blood Spots for Exposome Research Key Takeaways: Researchers use blood samples to measure the levels of various chemicals and metabolites related to environmental exposures and track those exposures over time. However, it can be logistically and technically challenging to continuously collect venous blood samples over critical […]

Cross-Cohort Mixture Analysis: A Data Integration Approach with Applications on Child Health Outcomes Key Takeaways:  Integrating data across multiple studies can enhance the statistical power of analyses and help researchers better understand the association between a mixture of chemical exposures and health outcomes. It can be challenging to combine data from multiple studies, especially when […]

Penn-CHOP ECHO: Applying causal inference methods to address pressing questions in environmental children’s health Key Takeaways:  Exposures during early life can set the stage for lifelong health outcomes and well-being. A variety of environmental factors—including macro-physical environmental factors (e.g., greenspace, pollution, water quality), macro-social environmental factors (e.g., discrimination, income, education), and micro-environmental factors (e.g., diet, […]

Unveiling Maternal Health Disparities: Addressing the Impact of Racism Key Takeaways*: Dr. Amutah-Onukagha noted that: Historically, women of color have disproportionately experienced reproductive injustices exacerbated by medical bias, unequal distribution of resources, and a lack of consistent, timely prenatal care and obstetrics. There are still many challenges and inequities occurring today, including under-resourcing and underfunding […]

Fish Consumption during Pregnancy and Impacts on Child Health Kristen Lyall, ScD (A.J. Drexel Autism Institute); Emily Oken, MD, MPH (Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute); Margaret Karagas, PhD (Geisel School of Medicine and Dartmouth College) Key Takeaways*: Dr. Oken noted that: Fish is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential […]

Emerging Trends and Treatments in Pediatric Obesity Key Takeaways*: Dr. Chan noted that: In recent years, there has been a concerning increase in rates of pediatric obesity and obesity-related complications, such as type 2 diabetes. Children with obesity are four times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, and studies have shown that type 2 […]

Epigenetic Regulators in Human Milk: Opportunities in ECHO with a Focus on miRNAs Key Takeaways:* MiRNAs, small molecules known to regulate the expression of certain genes, represent a major class of epigenetic regulators that are abundant in human milk. There is growing evidence that miRNAs in maternal milk are sensitive to modifiable exposures such as […]

The Early Life Microbiome and Disrupting Exposures Key Takeaways*: Dr. Dominguez-Bello noted that: During a vaginal birth, babies are exposed to dense bacterial communities, and throughout early childhood, they continue to be exposed to natural non-self microbes. In modern society, humans interfere with these natural microbe exposures. For example, many women are given antibiotics during […]

Multi-Omic Data Illuminates the Placenta's Role as a Mediator Between Prenatal EDC Exposures and Preterm Birth Key Takeaways: Preterm birth is one of the leading causes of infant morbidity and is associated with increased birth defects and impaired fetal development. Prenatal exposure to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) has is positively associated with spontaneous preterm birth […]

Microbiomes of Pregnancy and Infancy: Implications for Child Health Outcomes Key Takeaways: ECHO cohort sites have collected longitudinal microbiome samples and data spanning pregnancy through adolescence from a geographically, socioeconomically, and ethnically diverse US sample. The power of the ECHO cohort lies in its assessment of exposures in real time with the tracking of health […]

Applications of Skin Color Scales to the Study of Racial Inequality Key Takeaways: In this brief presentation we discuss the benefits and challenges of utilizing skin color scales to study racial inequality. We specifically consider the contributions of studies that have applied this methodology to study racial inequalities among Latinxs in the US and in Puerto Rico […]

An Introduction to the NIH Baby Toolbox Key Takeaways: This presentation provides an overview of the NIH Infant and Toddler Toolbox, or “Baby Toolbox,” a new neuropsychological, cognitive, motor, and social assessment battery for ages 1-42 months. Descriptions and video examples of the new Baby Toolbox direct and observational tasks will be shown, including novel […]

Stakeholder Engagement in Pediatric Disability Research: Why and How to do it Key Takeaways: To study child health, researchers must also study child disability. Research to improve child outcomes necessarily considers those with disabilities early in their developmental trajectories, to identify modifiable factors and drive interventions that promote health throughout the lifespan. However, this can […]

Opportunities and challenges for subfecundity research in ECHO Key Takeaways: Since the advent of assisted reproduction, there have been questions about potential impacts on child health, with neurodevelopment being a particular focus of concern. One of the biggest challenges for research in this field has been confounding by indication, i.e., the difficulty of disaggregating the […]

Does adherence to U.S. dietary guidelines during pregnancy reduce exposure to over 50 contemporary and understudied chemicals? Key Takeaways: Diet is an important source of exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which are linked to adverse maternal and child health outcomes. Aside from consuming fresh foods or restricting processed/packaged food intake, there are no comprehensive […]

Early Childhood BMI Trajectories and Weight Status Lability: Leveraging ECHO's Longitudinal Data to Identify Critical Developmental Patterns Key Takeaways: Dr. Liu will present findings from three studies using data from thousands of children in the ECHO cohort to examine early childhood BMI development and its implications for future health risks. Distinct BMI Trajectory Patterns: About […]

Paternal effects on child health and development: where are we now, where do we need to be? Key Takeaways: For this talk, Dr. Bertolla will focus on what is currently known about paternal effects on obstetric outcomes that could impact child health and development, and on direct paternal effects that have been shown to impact […]

Early Life PFAS Exposure and Child Health: Evidence from the NIH ECHO Cohort Key Takeaways: The widespread presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the environment has raised concerns about their potential impacts on child health. This presentation will explore the current state of knowledge by reviewing PFAS exposure and child health research within […]

Participant Experience in Longitudinal Research Key Takeaways: During this presentation, Dr. Faro will provide an overview of the current research on participant experience in longitudinal research. She will also present the analysis and results of the “Characterizing Participant Experience in Longitudinal Research: How and Why Engagement Matters in the ECHO Program” research. Positive experiences in […]