The HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD): NIH collaboration to understand the impacts of prenatal and early life experiences on brain development

Nora D Volkow¹, Joshua A Gordon², Diana W Bianchi³, Michael F Chiang⁴, Janine A Clayton⁵, William M Klein⁶, George F Koob⁷, Walter J Koroshetz⁸, Eliseo J Pérez-Stable⁹, Jane M Simoni¹⁰, Bruce J Tromberg¹¹, Richard P Woychik¹², Rebecca Hommer⁸, Erica L Spotts¹⁰, Benjamin Xu⁷, Julia L Zehr², Katherine M Cole¹³, Gayathri J Dowling¹, Michelle P Freund¹, Katia D Howlett¹, Chloe J Jordan¹, Traci M Murray¹, Vani Pariyadath¹, Janani Prabhakar¹, Michele L Rankin¹, Christopher S Sarampote¹, Susan R B Weiss¹

Affiliations

¹ National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
² National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
³ Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁴ National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁵ Office of Research on Women's Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁶ National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁷ National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁸ National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁹ National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
¹⁰ Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
¹¹ National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
¹² National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
¹³ National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA. Electronic address: katherine.cole@nih.gov.

PMID: 39098249
PMCID: PMC11342761
DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101423

The HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD): NIH collaboration to understand the impacts of prenatal and early life experiences on brain development

Nora D Volkow et al. Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2024 Oct.

. 2024 Oct:69:101423.

doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101423. Epub 2024 Jul 27.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
² National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
³ Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁴ National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁵ Office of Research on Women's Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁶ National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁷ National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁸ National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁹ National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
¹⁰ Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
¹¹ National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
¹² National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
¹³ National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA. Electronic address: katherine.cole@nih.gov.

PMID: 39098249
PMCID: PMC11342761
DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101423

Abstract

The human brain undergoes rapid development during the first years of life. Beginning in utero, a wide array of biological, social, and environmental factors can have lasting impacts on brain structure and function. To understand how prenatal and early life experiences alter neurodevelopmental trajectories and shape health outcomes, several NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices collaborated to support and launch the HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study. The HBCD Study is a multi-site prospective longitudinal cohort study, that will examine human brain, cognitive, behavioral, social, and emotional development beginning prenatally and planned through early childhood. Influenced by the success of the ongoing Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development^SM Study (ABCD Study®) and in partnership with the NIH Helping to End Addiction Long-term® Initiative, or NIH HEAL Initiative®, the HBCD Study aims to establish a diverse cohort of over 7000 pregnant participants to understand how early life experiences, including prenatal exposure to addictive substances and adverse social environments as well as their interactions with an individual's genes, can affect neurodevelopmental trajectories and outcomes. Knowledge gained from the HBCD Study will help identify targets for early interventions and inform policies that promote resilience and mitigate the neurodevelopmental effects of adverse childhood experiences and environments.

Keywords: Brain development; HBCD; Longitudinal; Neuroimaging; Prenatal substance use; Social determinants of health.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests. Julia L. Zehr reports a relationship with Jazz Pharmaceuticals Inc that includes: equity or stocks. Co-author’s spouse is employed by Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc - JLZ If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper

Figures

**Fig. 1**
Overview of the HBCD Study protocol starting from the prenatal visit (Visit 1) to 17 months of age (Visit 5). The study protocol contains assessments across a wide range of domains (Nelson et al., this issue) including pregnancy exposures (e.g., substance use, mental health; Gurka et al., this issue), social and environmental determinants of health (Cioffredi, Yerby, et al., this issue), physical health (Cioffredi, Garner, et al., this issue), child behavior and child-caregiver relationships (Edwards et al., this issue), and neurocognition and language development (Kable et al., this issue). Biospecimens are collected from both the birth parent and child to identify biomarkers and classify exposures (Sullivan et al., this issue) and wearable biosensors calculate infant movement and heartbeat (Pini et al., this issue). Measures of brain structure and function begin with collection of MRIs starting in the first month of life (Dean et al., this issue) and EEGs starting at 3 months of age (Fox et al., this issue). Protocol development is ongoing for additional visits through 10 years of age.

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References

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The HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD): NIH collaboration to understand the impacts of prenatal and early life experiences on brain development

Affiliations

The HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD): NIH collaboration to understand the impacts of prenatal and early life experiences on brain development

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

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LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Medical