# Epigenetic Markers, Trajectories and Predictors of Neurodevelopment in Childhood among Infants Born Very Preterm

> **NIH NIH R01** · WOMEN AND INFANTS HOSPITAL-RHODE ISLAND · 2021 · $642,828

## Abstract

Project Summary
Infants born very preterm are at increased risk of experiencing adverse developmental outcomes in childhood,
resulting in substantial burdens for those infants and their families. Recent research in the field of behavioral
epigenomics has indicated that preterm birth may have long term impacts on epigenetic regulation and that
differential DNA methylation is linked to variability in cognitive and behavioral function. However, there is a lack
of longitudinal epigenomic data in the published literature and thus it is unclear if preterm-associated
epigenomic variations are persistent in childhood, or if epigenomic differences in early life are predictive of later
developmental outcomes. DNA methylation can also be used to estimate epigenetic age acceleration which
has received increasing attention as a potential risk factor for degenerative diseases in adults. However, there
is some evidence that epigenetic aging may be related to positive developmental characteristics in childhood.
With funds from our prior award (R01 HD084515-01A1), we studied the relationships between early life
medical complications and neurobehavior with DNA methylation and epigenetic age, identifying numerous
notable relationships in our cohort of very preterm infants (NOVI). However, these studies were cross-sectional
in nature and should be followed up with repeated measure of epigenomic data. The NOVI cohort was also
selected for inclusion in the NIH Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) consortium
(UG3 OD23347) and selected to proceed to the next phase of the award (UH3 OD23347) which provides
funding to support extensive phenotypic characterization of our children through age 7, including numerous
neurodevelopmental assessments. Thus, we are proposing a competitive renewal to build on our prior work
and leverage the extensive and high-quality outcome data being obtained through ECHO. We propose a
longitudinal study of DNA methylation and epigenetic aging in a rigorously phenotyped cohort of infants that
were born very preterm (< 30 weeks gestation). We aim to study how neonatal medical complications and
neurobehavioral responses influence trajectories of DNA methylation and epigenetic aging in childhood, and
whether these trajectories track with neurodevelopmental trajectories or are informative for later impairments.
We also aim to develop an algorithm that incorporates childhood epigenomic factors with other known risk
factors to improve the precision of predictions about which infants are at highest risk of developmental
impairments. The successful completion of our study will provide novel and rich data demonstrating the early
life experiences among very preterm infants that influence patterns of DNA methylation and epigenetic aging in
childhood, characterize how those epigenetic factors are linked to later developmental outcomes, and provide
a predictive tool to identify children that are at greatest risk later developmental impairm...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10167746
- **Project number:** 5R01HD084515-05
- **Recipient organization:** WOMEN AND INFANTS HOSPITAL-RHODE ISLAND
- **Principal Investigator:** Todd M Everson
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $642,828
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-08-01 → 2024-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10167746

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10167746, Epigenetic Markers, Trajectories and Predictors of Neurodevelopment in Childhood among Infants Born Very Preterm (5R01HD084515-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10167746. Licensed CC0.

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