National Children's Study
Project Context:
The National Children's Study (NCS) will examine the effects of environmental influences on the health and development of 100,000 children across the United States, following them from before birth until age 21. The goal of the Study is ultimately to improve the health and well-being of children through learning what factors are associated with health impairments.
The Study defines 'environment' broadly, taking a number of natural and man-made environmental, biological, genetic, and psychosocial factors into account. By studying children through their different phases of growth and development, researchers will be better able to understand the role these factors have on health and disease. Findings from the Study will be made available as the research progresses, making potential benefits known to the public as soon as possible.
The NCS is led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention and by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Over the next two decades, more than 40 federal agencies and departments will work with child and environmental advocacy and support groups, private industries and foundations, community leaders, university-based scientists, and local medical sites across the country to sustain the Study and ensure it remains focused on common goals.
Project Focus:
In September 2007, NICHD awarded 22 new Study Center contracts. Study Centers are research teams from nearby universities, hospitals, or other organizations that carry out the research at Study locations. They will work within their designated Study location(s) to recruit participants and collect data. The Cache County Study Center is led by the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Utah in collaboration with the Early Intervention Research Institute (EIRI) at the Center for Persons with Disabilities at USU. The Biomedical Laboratory in the CPD is subcontracted with the National Children?s Study to develop a protocol to extract and purify DNA, RNA, and proteins from dried newborn blood spots. Once purified, the quality of the samples will be assessed using standard laboratory procedures such as PCR, RNA expression studies, and SDS-PAGE gels.
The Study Centers will develop a focused plan for recruitment. The majority of participants will join through door-to-door, census-type screening. A small number may join through physicians' offices, health clinics, and hospitals. The Study will require the collaboration of researchers, governmental officials, healthcare workers, social service agencies, and community groups, such as schools, churches, local governments, and others.
Products/Services:
When completed, the National Children's Study will be the richest information resource for questions related to child health ever. It will guide us in preventing childhood asthma, cancers, neurodevelopmental disorders, obesity and type 2 diabetes, and birth defects. It will save the lives and improve the health of millions of American children.
2010 Focus:
Researchers will begin recruiting women in 2010 in selected neighborhoods within Cache County. Researchers will go door-to-door and recruit women into the Study who represent a cross-section of ethnic, geographic, and socioeconomic groups. Eventually researchers will follow 1,000 births into this landmark study on childhood health, growth and development.
Project Assets
Website: National Children's Study