No Association Between Antidepressant Use During Pregnancy, Child’s Risk for Autism-Related Traits

No Association Between Antidepressant Use During Pregnancy, Child's Risk for Autism-Related Traits

Authors: Patricia Brennan, et al.

Who sponsored this study?

This research was supported by the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program, Office of The Director, National Institutes of Health.

What were the study results?

This study found that prenatal use of antidepressants, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), did not increase a child’s risk for ASD or related traits.

Footnote: Results reported here are for a single study. Other or future studies may provide new information or different results. You should not make changes to your health without first consulting your healthcare professional.

What was the study's impact?

Pregnant women who are diagnosed with depression must weigh a number of risks when making decisions about treatments. Sometimes medical providers may recommend treatment with antidepressants. This study suggests that maternal use of antidepressants, including SSRIs, during pregnancy does not increase a child’s risk for autism-related traits. This information can be valuable in helping pregnant women and their physicians decide whether antidepressant treatment is right for them.

Why was this study needed?

Previous studies have reported mixed findings on the relationship between prenatal antidepressant use and child autism. Pregnant women and the physicians that treat them need more data to inform their decisions about whether to take certain medications during pregnancy.

Who was involved?

This study included 3,129 mothers and their children enrolled in ECHO cohorts across the United States. Participants provided data on prenatal exposure to antidepressants as well as measures of autism-related traits collected when the child was between 1 and 12 years of age. About 5% of the participating mothers took antidepressants during pregnancy.

What happened during the study?

The researchers used medical records and maternal self-reports to determine what medicines mothers used during pregnancy. Mothers reported on whether their child received an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis and also completed rating scales about their child’s behavior, including social, language, and other traits related to autism.

What happens next?

Future studies might consider whether the dose or timing of antidepressant use during pregnancy changes its effect on child health outcomes.

Where can I learn more?

Access the full journal article, titled “Prenatal Antidepressant Exposures and Autism Spectrum Disorder or Traits: A Retrospective, Multi-Cohort Study,” in Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology.

The content is the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Published November 22, 2022

Access the associated article.

Download this summary

No Association Between Antidepressant Use During Pregnancy, Child's Risk for Autism-Related Traits

ECHO Study Suggests Oxidative Stress Contributes to Mother’s Risk for Preterm Birth

<< Back to Research Summaries

ECHO Study Suggests Oxidative Stress Contributes to Mother's Risk for Preterm Birth

Authors: Stephanie Eick, Rachel Morello-Frosch, et al.

Who sponsored this study?

Research reported in this publication was supported by the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program, Office of The Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH).

What were the study results?

Pregnant participants who had higher levels of oxidative stress biomarkers during pregnancy were more likely to deliver preterm babies. This association was stronger for participants who experienced preterm birth that was sudden and unexpected or occurred prior to 34 weeks.

Footnote: Results reported here are for a single study. Other or future studies may provide new information or different results. You should not make changes to your health without first consulting your healthcare professional.

What was the study's impact?

This study is the largest to date to look at the relationship between oxidative stress and preterm birth.

The study included a large group of racially, ethnically, and demographically diverse pregnant participants from across the mainland United States and Puerto Rico. The results from this study support prior findings that oxidative stress is higher among pregnant women who deliver preterm. The methods used in this study may help doctors identify pregnant women who may be at risk for preterm birth and plan targeted interventions.

Why was this study needed?

Oxidative stress is a process that can trigger cell damage and can play a role in the development of some diseases. Previous research has shown that oxidative stress in pregnant women may be linked to preterm birth. However, prior studies on this topic have involved small, primarily White populations, which does not reflect the diversity in the United States.

Who was involved?

This study involved 1,916 pregnant participants in the United States and Puerto Rico who were enrolled in one of four ECHO cohorts.

What happened during the study?

The researchers measured the levels of oxidative stress biomarkers from urine samples collected from participants during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. They used these measurements to determine whether levels of oxidative stress were higher among participants who delivered their babies before 37 weeks (preterm birth).

What happens next?

Next, the researchers will study how exposure to environmental chemicals may lead to an increase in oxidative stress, ultimately leading to preterm birth. Future research will also identify what risk factors lead to higher oxidative stress during pregnancy.

Where can I learn more?

Access the full journal article, titled “A pooled analysis of four birth cohorts examining urinary oxidative stress biomarkers and preterm birth” in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

The content is the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Published November 15, 2022

Access the associated article.

Download this summary

ECHO Study Suggests Oxidative Stress Contributes to Mother's Risk for Preterm Birth

Exposure to Certain Phthalates During Pregnancy May Affect Brain Development in Infant Girls

<< Back to Research Summaries

Exposure to Certain Phthalates During Pregnancy May Affect Brain Development in Infant Girls

Authors: Leny Matthew, Craig Newschaffer, et al.

Who sponsored this study?

The Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program, Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health supported this research.

What were the study results?

In this study, researchers found that certain phthalates measured in the infant’s meconium, or first stool, were associated with lower scores on a common test that measures motor, visual, and language skills in girls under age 5.

Footnote: Results reported here are for a single study. Other or future studies may provide new information or different results. You should not make changes to your health without first consulting your healthcare professional.

What was the study's impact?

This study suggests that prenatal exposure to certain types of phthalates may worsen early childhood learning outcomes for girls but have a neutral or slightly positive effect on boys. By studying meconium, instead of maternal urine, the researchers may be able to capture a longer timeframe of potential pre-natal exposure.

Why was the study needed?

Phthalates are widely used in personal care products, cosmetics, plastics, and other household items. These chemicals can cause the body to make substances that are thought to reduce a mother’s level of thyroid hormones, which are critical for fetal brain development. Phthalates are also associated with a reduction in the hormones necessary for sex-specific fetal brain development. Therefore, it is important to test the levels of prenatal phthalate exposure and the potential effects on developing fetuses.

Who was involved?

The study involved 956 mother and child pairs from two ECHO research sites—the Safe Passage study (SPS) and the Early Autism Risk Longitudinal Investigation (EARLI). Researchers focused on children who were higher risk for brain and nervous system disorders based on a family history of Autism or exposure to alcohol during pregnancy.

What happened during the study?

ECHO researchers measured phthalate levels in meconium from children who had a higher risk for developing brain and nervous system disorders. When the children were 12 months old, researchers tested their motor, visual, and language skills. Researchers used meconium samples rather than the mother’s urine to capture longer-term fetal exposure to phthalates.

What happens next?

Future prenatal phthalate exposure studies using meconium samples from newborn infants could investigate the differing effects of phthalate exposure on male versus female infants in order to better understand the reasons why these differences may occur.

Where can I learn more?

Access the full journal article, titled “The associations between prenatal phthalate exposure measured in child meconium and cognitive functioning of 12-month-old children in two cohorts at elevated risk for adverse neurodevelopment,” in Environmental Research.

The content is the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Published November 2022

Download this summary

Exposure to Certain Phthalates During Pregnancy May Affect Brain Development in Infant Girls

New ECHO Research Finds Significant Changes in Children’s Sleep Habits during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Posted on October 14, 2022December 5, 2023 by Jodi Snare

Collaborative ECHO research led by Maristella Lucchini, PhD of Columbia University Irving Medical Center investigates changes in childhood sleep behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. The researchers looked at data from 528 children across the United States and found that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, children went to bed later, woke up later, and took longer to fall asleep, but their overall time spent asleep did not change. The study also found that children in minority communities went to bed later, slept less, and took naps more frequently. This research, titled “Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s sleep habits: an ECHO study,” is published in Pediatric Research.

This study included children aged 4 to 12 from 14 ECHO cohorts across the United States. The ECHO Program’s Sleep Health of Children and Adolescents Questionnaire was used to evaluate children’s sleep habits before the pandemic began and at two time periods during the pandemic. The researchers also collected sociodemographic information from self-reports and medical records.

ECHO researchers found significant changes in children’s sleep habits, as well as differences in children’s sleep behaviors between racial/ethnic groups. However, parental knowledge of the importance of sleep might have contributed to children sleep health. Interviews with 38 participant caregivers revealed they prioritized routines to maintain their children’s amount of sleep but were generally more flexible about bedtimes.

“This is the first study investigating changes in childhood sleep habits in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic using data collected before and during the pandemic,” said Dr. Lucchini. “The results highlight potential targets for future interventions and support the need to examine and address the root causes of racial and ethnic sleep disparities in childhood.”

Using data from the same cohort of children, ECHO researchers are in the process of analyzing and publishing results on changes in diet, physical activity, and screen time during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read the research summary.

ECHO Researchers Examine Associations Between Gestational Diabetes, Prenatal Depression, and Postpartum Depression

Posted on October 10, 2022December 5, 2023 by Jodi Snare

Collaborative ECHO research led by Lauren C. Shuffrey, PhD of Columbia University examines the effects of gestational diabetes, a type of diabetes that develops during pregnancy, and prenatal depression on a person’s risk for developing postpartum depression. The study found that people with gestational diabetes were more likely to be classified as having prenatal depression. Those with both gestational diabetes and prenatal depression were at an increased risk for postpartum depression. But gestational diabetes on its own, without prenatal depression, was not associated with increased risk for postpartum depression.

This research, titled “Gestational Diabetes Mellitus, Prenatal Maternal Depression, and Risk for Postpartum Depression: An Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Study,” is published in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth.

Previous research has yet to examine the association between the combination of gestational diabetes and prenatal maternal depression and postpartum depression. To address this question, the researchers looked at data from 5,822 participants in 16 ECHO cohorts across 13 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. A total of 4,606 participants had neither gestational diabetes nor prenatal maternal depression, 416 had gestational diabetes only, 689 had prenatal maternal depression only, and 111 had both gestational diabetes and prenatal maternal depression. Participants self-reported on their depression symptoms during and after pregnancy using the PROMIS-D (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System) scale. The researchers used this data to evaluate the relationships between maternal depression symptoms and gestational diabetes.

“Our findings underscore the importance of universal depression screening during pregnancy and in the first postpartum year,” said Dr. Shuffrey. “Future studies should examine potential biological mechanisms underlying the relationship between gestational diabetes and maternal depression.”

The ECHO program is currently working towards analyzing blood samples collected during pregnancy to identify potential factors involved in the relationship between gestational diabetes, prenatal depression, and postpartum depression.

Read the research summary.

NIH Program Study Evaluates Eye Tracking as a Tool for Assessing Attention Patterns in Children

Posted on September 15, 2022June 7, 2023 by Jodi Snare

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Eye-tracking technology can be used to reliably assess attention patterns linked to socially withdrawn behaviors in preschool children, according to a new study funded by the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program at the National Institutes of Health.

Humans tend to give more attention to emotional information, such as happy or angry facial expressions, than neutral information. However, past research indicates that socially withdrawn children are less likely to conform to this pattern. This study aims to extend the existing research, which is limited primarily to White children in urban areas, to include children of diverse populations.

Eye-tracking is a technology that allows researchers to determine precisely where and how long a person looks at a stimulus. The research team compared eye-tracking data from indigenous children in the Navajo Birth Cohort Study (NBCS) with primarily non-Hispanic White children in the Illinois Kids Development Study (IKIDS). Both groups paid more attention to emotional faces. Socially withdrawn indigenous children were more likely than non-Hispanic White children to avoid emotional faces.

“Because eye-tracking technology doesn’t rely on limited clinical observations or parents’ reports, it can be used as a more objective measure across various settings and communities,” said Sara Nozadi, PhD, an ECHO Program investigator at the University of New Mexico. Eye-tracking technology can also be used in remote communities without requiring participants to travel to clinic.

Dr. Nozadi and Andréa Aguiar, PhD, an ECHO Program investigator at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, led this collaborative research published in Emotion.

Nozadi, S. et al. Cross-Cultural Applicability of Eye-Tracking in Assessing Attention to Emotional Faces in Preschool-Aged Children. Emotion. DOI:10.1037/emo0001124

###

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

Check 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 Propose Eye-Tracking Technology Can Provide a Non-Biased, Cross-Cultural Tool for Assessing Attention Patterns in Young Children

Posted on September 15, 2022December 5, 2023 by Jodi Snare

Collaborative ECHO research led by Sara Nozadi, PhD, of the University of New Mexico and Andréa Aguiar, PhD of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign suggests that eye-tracking technology can be used as a robust measure across diverse populations and settings to assess attention patterns linked to socially withdrawn behavior in preschool children. Their research, titled “Cross-Cultural Applicability of Eye-Tracking in Assessing Attention to Emotional Faces in Preschool-Aged Children” is published in the Emotion Journal.

Humans tend to give more attention to emotional information than neutral information. Past research indicates departures from this pattern typically occur in children with socially withdrawn behaviors. However, most of this research has been very limited and only conducted in controlled settings among primarily White children from urban areas.

In this study, ECHO researchers wanted to determine the extent to which two eye-tracking–based measures could be used cross-culturally to assess attention biases and how these biases might relate to socially withdrawn behaviors in children.

The researchers leveraged ECHO’s large sample size and diverse population to compare information from children in two ECHO cohorts that were very different demographically, geographically, racially and culturally. They analyzed data from 125 children aged 3.5 to 5.5 years from the Navajo Birth Cohort Study (NBCS) and 70 children aged 3.8 to 4.0 years from the Illinois Kids Development Study (IKIDS). NBCS is a cohort of indigenous children who live in rural Tribal lands across New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona and tend to have relatively low socioeconomic status (SES). In contrast, children from IKIDS are primarily Non-Hispanic White and high-SES, living around the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus in central Illinois. Children in the NBCS historically have not been included in developmental studies, including those investigating attention biases, whereas the IKIDS sample closely resembles the children assessed in most of the previously published eye-tracking studies of attention bias toward emotional stimuli.

Researchers had both groups of children complete two eye-tracking tasks that measured their attention to photos of human faces with positive, negative, and neutral expressions. Indigenous children were assessed in different locations in the Navajo territory, whereas IKIDS children came to a research laboratory in the University campus. Mothers also reported on their child’s socially withdrawn behaviors using the Child Behavioral Checklist (CBCL)—a standardized survey commonly used in research and clinical settings to evaluate risk for behavioral and emotional problems in children.

Attention patterns were similar across the two samples of children irrespective of differences in their cultures, demographics, or assessment settings. Overall, children paid more attention to emotional faces compared to neutral faces, and they were particularly quick to detect angry faces—because this expression may signify a threat. These findings replicate results of previous research with both adults and children. Indigenous children with socially withdrawn behaviors were more likely than other children in the study to avoid emotional faces—a response that has been observed in children with higher levels of socially withdrawn behaviors.

“This work shows that eye tracking can be used to measure patterns of attention towards emotional facial cues—both adaptive patterns and those that underlie socially withdrawn behaviors—in young children,” said Dr. Nozadi. “Because eye tracking technology does not rely on limited clinical observations or parents’ reports, it can be used as a more objective and less biased measure across various settings and communities.”

Moving forward, the researchers will look at how the responses they see in these young children change with age and determine whether eye tracking continues to be an unbiased tool for assessing attention throughout development.

Read the research summary.

ECHO Study Compares Cross-Cultural Patterns of Attention Linked to Underlying Behavior Problems in Children

<< Back to Research Summaries

ECHO Study Compares Cross-Cultural Patterns of Attention Linked to Underlying Behavior Problems in Children

Authors: Sara Nozadi, Andréa Aguiar, et al.

Who sponsored this study?

This research was supported by the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program, Office of The Director, National Institutes of Health.

What were the study results?

Patterns of attention were similar across the two groups of children despite the differences in their cultures, demographics, or assessment settings. Overall, children paid more attention to emotional faces compared to neutral faces. They were particularly quick to identify angry faces, which might be an adaptive response to a perceived threat. These findings replicate previous research results with both adults and children.

Indigenous children with socially withdrawn behaviors avoided emotional faces—a response observed in children with higher levels of socially withdrawn behaviors from other populations.

Footnote: Results reported here are for a single study. Other or future studies may provide new information or different results. You should not make changes to your health without first consulting your healthcare professional.

What was the study's impact?

This work suggests that eye tracking can be used as an objective measure of attention patterns in children across different settings and cultures, which can help researchers and clinicians more reliably identify children with early behavior problems. Because eye tracking technology does not rely on clinical observations or parents’ reports, it can be used as an unbiased measure across different communities to validate data collected through clinical assessments and parent reports in hard-to-reach communities.

Why was this study needed?

Humans tend to give more attention to emotional information than neutral information. Past research indicates departures from this pattern typically occur in children with socially withdrawn behaviors. However, this research is limited because it has been conducted mostly in controlled settings among primarily White children from urban areas.

In this study, ECHO researchers examined the extent to which two eye-tracking–based measures could be used cross-culturally to assess attention biases and how these biases might relate to children’s socially withdrawn behaviors.

Who was involved?

To evaluate whether eye-tracking technology could be applied effectively across cultures, researchers compared information from two ECHO cohorts that were very different demographically, geographically, racially, and culturally.

The researchers analyzed data from 125 children from the Navajo Birth Cohort Study, a cohort of indigenous children with relatively low socioeconomic status (SES) living in rural tribal lands, and 70 children from the Illinois Kids Development Study (IKIDS), a primarily Non-Hispanic White and high-SES cohort living around the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus in central Illinois.

What happened during the study?

Children between the ages of 3.5 years to 5.5 years completed two eye-tracking tasks that measured their attention to photos of human faces with positive, negative, and neutral expressions. Indigenous children were assessed in different locations in the Navajo territory, whereas IKIDS children came to a research laboratory in the University campus. Mothers also reported on children’s socially withdrawn behaviors, such as avoiding eye contact, using the Child Behavioral Checklist—a survey commonly used in research and clinical settings to evaluate risk for behavioral and emotional problems in children.

What happens next?

The researchers will look at how the responses they see in these young children change with age and determine whether eye tracking continues to be an unbiased tool for assessing attention throughout development.

Where can I learn more?

Access the full journal article titled “Cross-Cultural Applicability of Eye-Tracking in Assessing Attention to Emotional Faces in Preschool-Aged Children” published in the Emotion Journal.

The content is the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Published: September 15, 2022

Access the associated article.

Download this summary

ECHO Study Compares Cross-Cultural Patterns of Attention Linked to Underlying Behavior Problems in Children

Pregnant Women Living in Worse Neighborhood Conditions Were More Likely to Have Shorter Pregnancies and Smaller Babies

<< Back to Research Summaries

Pregnant Women Living in Worse Neighborhood Conditions Were More Likely to Have Shorter Pregnancies and Smaller Babies

Author(s): Sheena Martenies, et al.

Who sponsored this study?

This research was supported by the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program, Office of The Director, National Institutes of Health.

What were the study results?

In this study, ECHO researchers found that pregnant participants living in neighborhoods with higher exposure index scores, which reflect worse neighborhood conditions, had shorter pregnancies and smaller babies. For Black pregnant participants, there was a higher risk of preterm birth linked to increased combined exposures during pregnancy compared to White pregnant participants. The researchers also found that pregnant women living in rural areas had shorter pregnancies and smaller babies compared to pregnant women living in urban areas who had similar scores on the combined exposure index.

Footnote: Results reported here are for a single study. Other or future studies may provide new information or different results. You should not make changes to your health without first consulting your healthcare professional.

What was the study's impact?

This study provides additional support suggesting that neighborhood conditions can impact pregnancy and infant health. The effects of combined neighborhood-level exposures on childhood health can have notable effects on a national scale. Lower birthweight and shorter pregnancies are associated with health challenges later in life, including asthma and developmental delays.

Why was this study needed?

Previous studies have found that neighborhood conditions can influence pregnancy and infant health, but few have examined the effects of exposure to a combination of environmental and social stressors. It is important to look at multiple exposures simultaneously because this more closely mirrors real-world experiences on people’s health outcomes.

Existing tools for looking at combined exposures to environmental and social conditions in neighborhoods do not have national coverage or they do not extend across the time frames needed. To address this issue, researchers developed an exposure index to examine the relationship between combined environmental and social exposures at the neighborhood level and pregnancy and infant health in ECHO cohorts.

Who was involved?

This study included more than 13,000 infants born between 2010 and 2019. The participants were from 41 ECHO cohorts located throughout the United States.

What happened during the study?

ECHO researchers developed an exposure index that combined data on multiple environmental hazards and social circumstances into a single measure of neighborhood conditions. The index included factors such as air pollutants, vehicle traffic, poverty, and crowded housing. Pregnant participants were assigned an index score based on where they lived during their pregnancy. Then, the researchers looked at how this index score was associated with birthweight, length of pregnancy, and other pregnancy outcomes.

What happens next?

More research is needed to determine which of the exposures in the index are most important to child health outcomes. Some members of the research team are studying data from two ECHO cohorts to see how these neighborhood-level exposures might interact to influence obesity later in life.

Where can I learn more?

Access the full journal article, titled “Associations between combined exposure to environmental hazards and social stressors at the neighborhood level and individual perinatal outcomes in the ECHO-wide cohort,” in Health & Place.

The content is the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Published July 21, 2022

Read the associated article.

Download this summary

Pregnant Women Living in Worse Neighborhood Conditions Were More Likely to Have Shorter Pregnancies and Smaller Babies

NIH Program Study Suggests Racial/Ethnic Sleep Disparities During Pregnancy

Posted on June 21, 2022April 2, 2025 by Jodi Snare

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Pregnant Black women may sleep less and wake up more often than pregnant White women, according to a new study funded by the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Poor sleep during pregnancy is common, and it’s associated with poor outcomes in late pregnancy and after birth. Although minority groups in the United States often experience worse sleep than non-Hispanic White people, sleep disparities during pregnancy are understudied. Better understanding maternal sleep disparities—and what causes them—can help improve health outcomes for pregnant women and their children.

“Research shows poor sleep contributes to adverse maternal outcomes that disproportionately affect racial and ethnic minority communities,” said Maristella Lucchini, PhD, of Columbia University Irving Medical Center. “We wanted to know if sleep was a factor that contributed to racial and ethnic disparities in overall maternal health.”

Dr. Lucchini, an ECHO Program investigator, led this collaborative research effort, which is now published in Sleep.

The research team analyzed data from 2,500 pregnant participants in 14 ECHO cohorts nationwide. They found that compared to non-Hispanic white participants:

Non-Hispanic black participants reported:

- Shorter sleep duration
- More sleep disturbances
- Similar sleep quality

Hispanic participants reported:

- Longer sleep duration
- Better sleep quality
- Fewer sleep disturbances

Lucchini, M. et al. Racial/ethnic disparities in subjective sleep duration, sleep quality, and sleep disturbances during pregnancy: an ECHO study. Sleep. DOI: 10.1093/sleep/zsac075

###

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

Check 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.