National Children’s Study Marks a New Phase by Adding Study Centers
The National Children’s Study announced the addition of new Study Centers, which include a variety of universities, hospitals, health departments, and other organizations. These Centers will enable the Study to reach into dozens of new communities and locations, a critical aspect of the largest study ever conducted on the effects of environmental and genetic factors on child and human health in the United States.
Researchers and staff at these Centers will work within their communities to recruit participants and their families—a sizeable task in light of the Study’s plans to enroll a representative sample of 100,000 children from before birth and follow them to age 21 years.
The Centers will also manage data collection for Study participants at their site and will filter these data to the Study’s central Coordinating Center, where items will be organized and analyzed. Study organizers note that these data will provide findings that could prevent and treat some of the nation’s most pressing health problems, including autism, birth defects, diabetes, asthma, obesity, learning disabilities, and behavioral disorders.
The NICHD was directed by congress to lead a national longitudinal study of environmental influences on children's health and development with other federal agencies in the Children’s Health Act of 2000. From this directive came the National Children’s Study. The Study is led by a consortium of federal agencies: the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services—including the NICHD and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences at the NIH, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
For more information about the new Study Centers or about the National Children’s Study, select a link below:
Originally Posted: September 29, 2008
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