BD-STEPS Research

BD-STEPS is the second collaborative study for the Centers for Birth Defects Research and Prevention (CBDRP). The CBDRP’s first study, the National Birth Defects Prevention Study (NBDPS), is one of the largest studies on understanding the causes of and risk factors for birth defects in the United States. NBDPS stopped interviewing mothers in March 2013, but researchers will continue to analyze this rich source of information on birth defects. The NBDPS provided important data on how nutrition, smoking, obesity and medicines affect pregnancies. BD-STEPS will dig deeper into the results of that past research. As new findings become available, we will post them here.

Notable NBDPS Findings

To date, more than 300 scientific papers have been published using data from NBDPS. Visit the NBDPS website for some examples of important NBDPS findings.