Children Study Probes Environment and Genetics

Children Study Probes Environment and Genetics



October 2007

 The largest study of child 
and human health ever conducted in the United States is one step closer to 
full operation with the award of contracts to 22 new study centers to 
manage participant recruitment and data collection in 26 communities 
across the United States. 
Thursday's announcement of the new study centers for The National 
Children’s Study builds on the establishment of the first seven centers in 
2005. 
The National Children's Study will focus on a representative sample of 
100,000 children from before birth to age 21. Researchers will gather data 
on children's genetic makeup and a number of biological, chemical, 
environmental, physical and psychosocial factors. 
The study seeks information to prevent and treat some of the nation's most 
pressing health problems, including autism, birth defects, diabetes, heart 
disease and obesity. 
The study defines the term environment broadly, including natural and 
manufactured environment factors, biological and chemical factors, 
physical surroundings, social factors, behavioral influences and outcomes, 
genetics, cultural and family influences and differences, and geographic 
locations. 
Researchers will collect environmental samples from the air and water 
where children spend more than 30 hours a week to learn about potential 
exposures. They will analyze blood, urine, hair and fingernail samples 
from children. In addition, children will be screened for asthma, birth 
defects, diabetes, injury susceptibility, obesity and physical and mental 
development disorders. The outcomes of pregnancies, such as preterm 
delivery, also will be evaluated. 
From that information, scientists can look at how certain factors alone or 
in combination affect pregnancy outcomes, child development and health and 
an adult's likelihood of developing certain diseases. 
"The National Children's Study is an important step in setting the 
foundation for understanding the environmental and genetic determinants of 
pediatric and adult diseases," says Michael DeBaun, MD, MPH, co-principal 
investigator and associate professor of pediatrics and biostatistics at 
Washington University in St. Louis, one of the study centers selected. 
"We now have a unique opportunity coupled with a high level of 
responsibility to fulfill the mission of this important award for the next 
generation," he said. 
The cost of the research is estimated at $3 billion over the next 25 
years. Congress appropriated $69 million in fiscal year 2007 for the 
National Children's Study. 
Dr. Duane Alexander, director of the National Institute of Child Health 
and Human Development says the National Children's study is the largest 
and longest research study ever to look at the ways in which environment 
and genetics interact to influence child health and human development. 
The study will eventually be conducted in a total of 105 study locations 
across the United States, pending additional funding. The first study 
locations will begin enrolling pregnant women within the next nine to 10 
months and scientific information is expected to be available as early as 
2011 and 2012, says study director Dr. Peter Scheidt. 
The study begins either prior to conception or in the first trimester of 
pregnancy. 
"There are a lot of things that happen prior to birth that set the 
thermostat on how vulnerable you are to risk factors for diseases," says 
Louise Flick, DrPH, co-principal investigator and professor of nursing 
from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Nursing. "We are 
studying children to age 21 because some of the exposures we suspect are 
important have consequences that take a lot time to develop." 
"The National Children's Study is an investment in the future," says Terry 
Leet, Ph.D., lead investigator of the study sites in St. Louis and rural 
Macoupin County and chairman of the department of community health at 
Saint Louis University School of Public Health. 
"Examining the kinds of questions that influence the health and well-being 
of children is critically important to the entire community, whether you 
are a parent, grandparent or researcher," said Leet. "What we find could 
be a potential gold mine of data for scientists who are studying what 
causes diseases in children." 
As the lead institution, Saint Louis University School of Public Health 
has received a $26 million, five-year contract from the National Institute 
of Child Health and Human Development and a consortium of federal agencies 
including the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency. 

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