How conditions before birth shape health in your twenties
Official title: Prenatal environmental determinants of health in young adulthood: a lifecourse approach
Funded at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, INC. · NIH-11325810 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks at whether a mother's health, chemical exposures, and neighborhood during pregnancy affect young adults' physical and mental health.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, INC. NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Canton, UNITED STATES) |
| Project start | July 1, 1998 |
| Project end | March 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $1,354,338 |
| NIH project number | 5R01HD034568-23 |
| Project ID | NIH-11325810 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are people who were enrolled before birth in long-term pregnancy cohorts like Project Viva, or pregnant people considering enrollment in similar long-term prenatal studies.
✕Less likely to help
People whose health issues are driven mainly by adult-onset factors or genetics, or those not represented in the Project Viva cohort (different regions, ages, or backgrounds), may not see direct benefit from this specific work.
What this research studies
Researchers are using detailed information already collected from people enrolled before birth in the Project Viva cohort and following them into young adulthood. They will link prenatal maternal behaviors (diet, smoking, activity), biological measures (inflammation, blood pressure, glycemia, weight gain, mood), chemical exposures (metals, PFAS, air pollution), and social factors (material hardship, neighborhood) to health outcomes in the participants now in their 20s. The team will analyze these existing questionnaires, biospecimens, and exposure estimates to see which prenatal factors predict risks like obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and symptoms of depression or anxiety. Findings aim to point to early-life influences that matter for health when people reach young adulthood.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could identify prenatal factors to target with prenatal care or public-health actions to reduce young-adult risks such as obesity, hypertension, and mental-health problems.
How similar studies have gone: Previous studies have linked prenatal exposures to childhood health, but far fewer have followed participants into young adulthood, so this project extends existing evidence into a less-studied life stage.
Where this research is happening
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Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, INC.
Canton, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Hivert, Marie-France — Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, INC.
- Study coordinator: Hivert, Marie-France
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.