# NICHD HUMAN BIOSPECIMEN REPOSITORY - RHODE ISLAND CHILDRENS HEALTH EQUITY AND DEVELOPMENT STUDY (ENRICHED) REPOSITORY

> **NIH NIH N01** · FISHER BIOSERVICES, INC. · 2022 · $415,215

## Abstract

Early life conditions including poverty and discrimination generate health disparities throughout
life that become further entrenched in disadvantaged populations through transmission across
generations. In the United States, these disparities manifest in differences in life expectancy and
chronic disease and have their origins early in life; as early as the prenatal period. Adults of low
socioeconomic status and particularly minorities experience disproportionately high rates of
psychopathology, including depression, which bears well-documented associations with preterm
delivery and other adverse obstetric outcomes. Parental mental health, which is strongly linked
with social and economic disadvantage as well as differences in child development, may play a key
mediating role in the transmission of disparities across generations but previous studies have not
fully considered paternal as well as maternal psychopathology. As a result, though disparities in
health are well documented, the developmental mechanisms that impact disparities at the very
beginning of life are not, particularly those which lead to developmental deficits that emerge long
before presentation of disease.
The aims of the Rhode Island Children’s Health Equity and Development Study (ENRICHED) are to test the hypotheses that low socioeconomic and minority status results in higher risk of parental
psychopathology, gestational neuroendocrine and metabolic dysregulation, and poor health-related
behaviors in both parents and offspring.
Biological samples will be collected from mothers throughout the duration of the study. Maternal
blood samples will be used to measure a panel of neuroendocrine-immune and metabolic markers.
These metabolites have been related to maternal risk of gestational diabetes, low birth weight, and
rapid postnatal weight gain, suggesting that metabolite profiles of maternal samples pre-delivery are useful in characterizing maternal pregnancy metabolic status, and can predict infant neurodevelopmental phenotypes in early childhood. Blood will also be used to facilitate genetic,
epigenetic, and gene expression analyses. Maternal urine will be used for assaying the concentration of environmental chemicals.
Around the time of delivery, cord blood will also be collected and processed. Cord blood will be
used to assess neuroendocrine-immune and metabolic markers and to facilitate genetic, epigenetic,
and gene expression analyses.
Biological fathers will contribute a single blood sample at the time of their in-person interview.
Paternal blood will be used to facilitate genetic, epigenetic, and gene expression analyses. If fathers
do not wish to allow blood collection, cheek swabs will be requested for salivary DNA analyses.
Infants will have hair collected at both follow-up visits to assess cortisol as an indicator of HPA
functioning / stress reactivity.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10710575
- **Project number:** 275201400003I-0-759402200005-1
- **Recipient organization:** FISHER BIOSERVICES, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** BRITTANY MARTIN
- **Activity code:** N01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $415,215
- **Award type:** —
- **Project period:** 2022-09-29 → 2026-09-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10710575

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10710575, NICHD HUMAN BIOSPECIMEN REPOSITORY - RHODE ISLAND CHILDRENS HEALTH EQUITY AND DEVELOPMENT STUDY (ENRICHED) REPOSITORY (275201400003I-0-759402200005-1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10710575. Licensed CC0.

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