HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study

Overview

The Research Need

The first few years of life are a period of exponential growth and brain development. The long-term effects of exposure to substances and other environmental, social, and biological factors during pregnancy and after birth on infant and child development are not fully understood.

To address this knowledge gap, NIH is supporting research to better understand brain and child development, beginning in the perinatal period, and extending through early childhood. Of great interest is understanding variability in brain development and how it contributes to cognitive, behavioral, social, and emotional function. Knowledge of a wide range of brain trajectories is critical to understanding how they may be affected by exposure to opioids and other substances (e.g., alcohol, tobacco, cannabis), stressors, trauma, and other significant environmental influences, including those that promote resilience.

Watch this video about the HBCD study.

About the Program

The HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study is the largest long-term study of early brain and child development in the United States. The study will collect information from a cohort of pregnant participants before birth and from their infants beginning at birth, and it will continue collecting information from the caregiver and child through early childhood. Data will include structural and functional brain imaging; anthropometrics; medical history; family history; biospecimens; and assessments of social, emotional, and cognitive development. Approximately half the sample will include pregnant persons who experience adversities during pregnancy including, but not limited to, exposures to substances.

Open Funding Opportunities

There are no Open Funding Opportunities at this time.

HBCD - Healthy Brain and Childhood Development

Visit the HBCD Study website

Program Details

Through the Helping to End Addiction Long-term® Initiative, or NIH HEAL Initiative®, in collaboration with the National Institute on Drug Abuse and several NIH Institutes and Centers, NIH has contributed $15.8 million to fund 29 awards in Phase 1 of this program and $37.1 million to fund the first year of Phase 2 of this program.

Phase I of the HBCD Study concluded an 18-month planning period during which awardees considered the experimental design and feasibility of approaches. Awardees conducted multisite pilot and feasibility studies addressing five key areas that are crucial for the Phase II study:

  • Recruitment and retention strategies
  • Ethical and legal challenges
  • Imaging technologies
  • Other assessment methodologies
  • Biospecimen collection and analysis

This planning phase was critical for ensuring a robust study design for the Phase II HBCD Study, which launched in October 2021. In Phase II, a fully integrated, collaborative infrastructure supports the collection of data to enable researchers to analyze brain and behavioral development in substance-exposed and non-drug-exposed infants and children across a variety of regions and from diverse demographic backgrounds.

Research Examples

Examples of HBCD Study activities include:

  • Multi-modal assessments of brain, cognitive, and emotional development from birth through childhood to assess neurodevelopmental trajectories and determine how substance exposure and other environmental factors affect these developmental trajectories.
  • Creation of a large, diverse, well-characterized cohort of caregivers, infants, and children whose anonymized data will be made available for analysis to the greater research community for years to come.
  • Evaluation of key developmental windows during which the impact of adverse environmental exposures (e.g., drugs, stress, COVID-19) or ameliorating factors (e.g., substance use disorder treatment, social/economic support) influence neurodevelopmental outcomes.
  • Identification of actionable items as results emerge that are pertinent to prevention, public policies, and innovative products.
  • Development, optimization, and validation of technologies for neuroimaging and neurophysiological assessments of infants, with standardized analysis pipelines.
  • Establishment of a collaborative research model that includes creation of community liaison boards comprising medical providers, patient advocates, ethicists, and representatives from state agencies to inform the study design and provide ongoing feedback throughout its lifetime.
  • Continuous assessments of child physiology through mobile and wearable technology.

Phase II

  • Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute – Arkansas
  • Boston Children’s Hospital – Massachusetts
  • Cedars-Sinai Medical Center – California
  • Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles – California
  • Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia – Pennsylvania
  • Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center – Ohio
  • Emory University – Georgia
  • Johns Hopkins University/ Kennedy Krieger Institute – Maryland
  • New York University School of Medicine – New York
  • Northwestern University – Illinois
  • Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences – Oklahoma
  • Oregon Health and Science University – Oregon
  • Pennsylvania State University – Pennsylvania
  • University of Alabama at Birmingham –  Alabama
  • University of California, San Diego –  California
  • University of Florida –  Florida
  • University of Maryland –  Maryland
  • University of Minnesota –  Minnesota
  • University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center –  New Mexico
  • University of North Carolina Chapel Hill –  North Carolina
  • University of Vermont –  Vermont
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison –  Wisconsin
  • Vanderbilt University –  Tennessee
  • Virginia Tech - Virginia
  • Washington University –  Missouri

Phase I

  • Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute – Arkansas
  • Avera McKennan Hospital & University Health Center – South Dakota
  • Boston Children’s Hospital – Massachusetts
  • Case Western Reserve University – Ohio
  • Cedars-Sinai Medical Center – California
  • Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles – California
  • Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia – Pennsylvania
  • Children’s Research Institute – Washington D.C.
  • Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center – Ohio
  • Duke University – North Carolina
  • Emory University – Georgia
  • Father Flanagan’s Boys’ Home – Nebraska
  • Johns Hopkins University/ Kennedy Krieger Institute – Maryland
  • Mt. Sinai School of Medicine – New York
  • New York University School of Medicine – New York
  • Northwestern University – Illinois
  • Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences – Oklahoma
  • Oregon Health & Science University – Oregon
  • Pennsylvania State University – Pennsylvania
  • Rhode Island Hospital – Rhode Island
  • University of Alabama at Birmingham – Alabama
  • University of California, San Diego – California
  • University of Florida – Florida
  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – Illinois
  • University of Maryland – Maryland
  • University of Minnesota – Minnesota
  • University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center – New Mexico
  • University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill – North Carolina
  • University of Pennsylvania – Pennsylvania
  • University of Pittsburgh – Pennsylvania
  • University of Vermont – Vermont
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison – Wisconsin
  • Vanderbilt University – Tennessee
  • Washington University – Missouri
  • Women & Infants Hospital in Rhode Island – Rhode Island

2024
The Healthy Brain and Child Development National Consortium Administrative Core
Summary
Summary
Nov 05, 2024
2024
Healthy Brain and Child Development National Consortium Data Coordinating Center
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Summary
Nov 05, 2024
2023
23/24 HEALthy Brain and Child Development National Consortium
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Summary
Sep 28, 2023
2023
1/6 HBCD Prenatal Experiences and Longitudinal Development (PRELUDE) Consortium
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Summary
Sep 28, 2023
2023
12/24 The HEALthy Brain and Child Development National Consortium
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Summary
Sep 28, 2023

Participating NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices

Resources

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