Reproductive, Perinatal, and Pediatric Health – RPPH
The Reproductive, Perinatal and Pediatric Health (RPPH) study section reviews applications that study the determinants, predictors and biomarkers of diseases and conditions related to reproductive health, perinatal (pregnancy, postpartum, and neonatal), and pediatric health and applications that take a life course approach to looking at early life origins of disease from a population health perspective. RPPH applications include examination of genetic, epigenetic, social, biological, behavioral, nutritional and environmental influences as lifecourse factors that affect future biological health outcomes and risk factors that contribute to reproductive, perinatal and pediatric health outcomes at the population level. Studies reviewed in RPPH have a population health focus, including consideration of health equity within and across populations. Applications that focus on the pathophysiology or the underlying mechanisms of these diseases and disorders especially those that primarily use animal or other experimental models are reviewed in other study sections.
Review Dates
Topics
- The scope of the reproductive health outcomes studied include gynecologic and male reproductive disorders, menstruation, menopause and female and male fertility such as studies of assisted reproductive technology outcomes examined using population-based data
- Lifecourse applications that examine the effects of prenatal or early life exposures on biological and biomedical health outcomes later in life including prenatal origins of adult disease
- The scope of perinatal health outcomes includes adverse pregnancy outcomes like preeclampsia and adverse birth outcomes like preterm birth
- The scope of pediatric health outcomes focuses from early developmental outcomes like birth defects to adolescent health outcomes like pubertal development
- Studies examining the effects of environmental and other exposures on incidence, progression, and outcomes related to reproductive, perinatal and pediatric health in large populations, especially with a focus on the disease or disorder outcome rather than the exposure
- Applications may use methodologies and study designs including cohort, case-control, prospective, longitudinal, retrospective, clinical trial, cross-sectional, surveillance, omics (i.e. genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, epigenomics, metagenomics) and assessment of gene-environment interactions to look at lifestyle or health behaviors as well as their associations with multiple biological and biomedical health outcomes
Shared Interests and Overlaps
There are shared interests in neurodevelopmental outcomes of children with Neurological, Mental and Behavioral Health (NMBH). Lifecourse applications that focus on the relationship between prenatal exposures and neurodevelopmental outcomes in the children at the population level are reviewed in RPPH. Applications that focus on neurodevelopmental outcomes in children at the population level are reviewed in NMBH.
There are shared interests in the effects of obesity and diabetes during pregnancy and the perinatal period on health outcomes of both the mother and offspring with Kidney, Endocrine and Digestive Disorders (KEDD). Applications that focus on obesity and diabetes during pregnancy and perinatal period including gestational diabetes as a health outcome at the population level may be reviewed in KEDD. Applications that focus on obesity and gestational diabetes as an exposure related to pregnancy and birth outcomes at the population level may be reviewed in RPPH.
There are shared interests in reproductive health using population-level data with Social Sciences and Population Studies (SSPA/SSPB). Applications that emphasize epidemiological studies of reproductive health that include assessment of the biological, behavioral, social and clinical determinants of reproductive health outcomes are reviewed in RPPH. Applications that emphasize population level changes in reproduction and sexuality, such as fertility patterns or social and cultural determinants of contraceptive use and childbearing are reviewed in SSPA/SSPB.
There are shared interests in environmental epidemiology applications with Social and Environmental Determinants of Health (SEDH). Applications that primarily focus on reproductive and/or perinatal health outcomes at the population level with consideration for social and environmental factors are reviewed in RPPH. Applications that primarily focus on the characterization of the environmental and/or social determinants as exposures related to reproductive and/or perinatal health outcomes at the human population level are reviewed in SEDH.
There are shared interests in pregnancy with Pregnancy and Neonatology Study Section (PN). Applications that emphasize the determinants of pregnancy and neonatal health outcomes in human subpopulations are reviewed in RPPH. Applications that emphasize the physiology and pathophysiology of pregnancy and the neonatal period including clinical obstetrics and maternal fetal medicine to understand the mechanisms underlying pregnancy and its disorders are reviewed in PN.
There are shared interests in studying the genetic predisposition to disease using population-based samples with Genetics of Health and Disease (GHD). Applications that emphasize how these factors contribute to health outcomes in human subpopulations are reviewed in RPPH. Applications that emphasize discovery of genetic, genomic, epigenomic elements and molecular signatures are reviewed in GHD.
