Researchers launch biggest study of US children

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Researchers hoping to determine the
causes of many common diseases like autism and diabetes will
follow 100,000 U.S. children from birth through adulthood in
the largest ever study of its kind.

“We’re looking to find the root causes of many common
diseases and disorders. When we do, we’ll be in a position to
prevent them from ever occurring,” said U.S. Surgeon-General
Dr. Richard Carmona.

In particular, scientists will try to find out whether
there is a link between environment and diseases.

Most studies used now to link environment and disease are
retrospective, meaning they rely on a patient’s or a parent’s
recall of events, food eaten, and behaviors. Scientists place
much greater faith in studies that look at actual behaviors in
real time to more accurately link them to consequences.

“The National Children’s Study would follow more than
100,000 children, from before birth — and, in some cases, even
before pregnancy,” said Dr. Duane Alexander, director of the
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, one
of the National Institutes of Health.

“It would meticulously measure their environmental
exposures while tracking their health and development, from
infancy through childhood, until age 21,” he added.

Researchers will also take samples from the children and
their parents to see what chemicals they have actually absorbed
into their bodies.

“In the search for environmental influences on human
health, and their relationship to genetic constitution,
National Children’s Study researchers plan to examine such
factors as the food children eat, the air they breathe, their
schools and neighborhoods, their frequency of visits to a
health care provider, and even the composition of the house
dust in their homes,” the NICHD said in a statement.

Six centers were named on Thursday where the research will
begin — the University of California in Irvine, the University
of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, the Mount Sinai School of
Medicine in New York, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the
University of Utah in Salt Lake City and the University of
Wisconsin-Madison.

The NIH hopes to eventually get 105 communities involved.

Each team will enroll at least 250 newborns each year for
five years beginning in 2007, with initial results available
around 2010.

The researchers will look for women who may become
pregnant, even those who are not planning to, to see if
accidental or unintended exposures or behaviors affect any
children they may later have.

“The study might eventually lead to preventions or
treatments for many common conditions,” Carmona said.

“We now know that one in five schools in America has indoor
air quality problems, which affect millions of children who
don’t even realize it,” he added. “The study could help us map
how our environments, habits, and activities affect our
children’s health.”