# Enhancing Cardiovascular Health Equity in Mothers and Children Through Home Visiting

> **NIH NIH UG3** · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $635,923

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
The foundation for cardiovascular health (CVH) is laid in early life by intergenerational interactions,
passed from parent to child, that have long-lasting biological and behavioral consequences. Lifestyle
interventions can promote CVH among mothers and their children over time. Academic partnerships
with home visiting organizations that reach families experiencing health disparities advance
intergenerational CVH equity. This study builds on a decades-long academic-home visiting
partnership between the research team at Washington University in St. Louis and Parents as
Teachers (PAT), an evidence-based home visiting program located in all 50 states. Most recently, our
partnered work demonstrated the effectiveness of Healthy Eating and Active Living Taught at Home
(HEALTH), in which we successfully tested a lifestyle intervention to promote ideal weight and CVH
among pregnant and young mothers and their children. We now seek to advance this work with the
ENRICH Collaborative by rigorously testing the ongoing CVH impact of this implementation-ready
approach. During the UG3 planning phase (years 1-2), we will work with the ENRICH Collaborative to
identify a common CVH protocol informed by HEALTH. In the UH3 implementation phase (years 3-7),
we will rigorously test the ongoing impact on CVH of this implementation-ready approach for mothers
and young children, delivered over 3 years, beginning prenatally and continuing to 30 months post-
childbirth. The Hybrid Type 1 cluster-randomized pragmatic trial builds on this partnership (N=10 sites
in high burden St. Louis, Missouri, metro region; 750 mother-child dyads; study population with one or
more of the following characteristics associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease: Black
or Latinx, body mass index ≥ 30, and/or socioeconomic disadvantage). We will determine the effect of
HEALTH on maternal CVH as assessed by a composite score on the American Heart Association
Life’s Simple 7 over 3 years from enrollment (before 20 weeks pregnancy) to follow-up at birth, 6, 18,
and 30-months post childbirth; and on child CVH assessed by BMIz trajectory and diet, activity, sleep,
and parental influence from birth to 6, 18, and 30-month follow-up. We will apply expertise in
implementation science to ensure the intervention has equitable implementation and impact across
PAT and the ENRICH Collaborative. This significant study will further advance scientific
understanding and evidence-based practice on how to disrupt the impact of cardiovascular risk that
passes across generations to improve CVH equity. The innovation of this study is that it will rigorously
determine the impact of HEALTH on the transfer of lifestyle behaviors from mother to child, across
the childbearing continuum.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10426758
- **Project number:** 1UG3HL162970-01
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Victor G. Davila-Roman
- **Activity code:** UG3 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $635,923
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-05-05 → 2024-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10426758

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10426758, Enhancing Cardiovascular Health Equity in Mothers and Children Through Home Visiting (1UG3HL162970-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10426758. Licensed CC0.

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