# RFA-DD-18-001 Birth Defects Study To Evaluate Pregnancy exposures (BD-STEPS) II Core & Component B Steps -Stillbirth

> **NIH ALLCDC U01** · UNIV OF ARKANSAS FOR MED SCIS · 2021 · $1,150,000

## Abstract

COMPONENT A
 Three out of every 100 babies in the US are born with a structural birth defects. Birth defects are a leading cause of infant mortality in the US
 and worldwide. Children who survive with birth defects often experience a diminished quality of life and impose a substantial social and
 economic burden. Although birth defects pose a significant public health problem, clinical and public heath efforts to prevent most birth defects
 are limited. The lack of evidence regarding etiology of most nonsyndromic birth defects represents a major barrier in establishing prevention
 programs. In 1997, the National Birth Defects Prevention Study (NBDPS) was created to investigate these complex etiologies. With the phasing
 out of the NBDPS, the CDC initiated a new initiative building on the NBDPS findings -the Birth Defects STudy to Evaluate Pregnancy exposures
 (SD-STEPS). The Arkansas Center f~r Birth Defects Research and Prevention, a participant in the NBDPS for 16 years and a participant in 8D
 STEPS I, is dedicated to understani:ling the causes of birth defects and welcomes the opportunity to continue to"contribute to an evidence base
 that will facilitate development of effective prevention strategies. We are well positioned to build on the foundation of the Arkansas Center by
 identifying maternal exposures in early pregnancy that may be amenable to early prevention. The long-term goal of the Arkansas Center is to
 prevent or significantly reduce the occurrence of birth defects. We propose, therefore, to identify modifiable early pregnancy exposures that may
 decrease the occurrence of selected birth defects by participating in BO-STEPS II, discovering gene-environment interactions that lead to birth
 defects by supporting high-throughput genomic and epigenomlc analyses of biological samples collected from NBDPS and BO-STEPS
 participants, and helping develop future generations of birth-defect researchers by training and mentoring junior researchers in data analysis,
 manuscript preparation, and other study-related activities. Through our studies, we will maintain a leading role in establishing clinical and public
 health strategies to prevent birth defects.
COMPONENTS
Each year 32 million stillbirths occur globally. In the US and other developed countries, stillbirth is a largely under-studied perinatal outcome
despite being one of the most common adverse pregnancy outcomes, accounting for one-half of all perinatal deaths. In 2006, the most recent
data available for the US, stillbirths occurred In 6.05 of every 1,000 live births plus fetal deaths, much higher than many high-income countries
and the US. Healthy People 2020 Objective of 5.6 (per 1,000 live births+ fetal deaths) for fetal mortality rates. Stillbirths are poorly ascertained
in the US and most developed and developlng countries. The most recent national data available on stillbirth prevalence is from 2006 which
underscores the insufficient infrastructure currently in place for a...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9999986
- **Project number:** 5U01DD001285-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF ARKANSAS FOR MED SCIS
- **Principal Investigator:** Wendy N Nembhard
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** ALLCDC
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $1,150,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-12-01 → 2021-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9999986

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9999986, RFA-DD-18-001 Birth Defects Study To Evaluate Pregnancy exposures (BD-STEPS) II Core & Component B Steps -Stillbirth (5U01DD001285-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9999986. Licensed CC0.

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