Salt Lake County may join study of children

Salt Lake County is one of eight counties nationwide that may be chosen for early study as part of the National Children's Study, an ambitious attempt to follow 100,000 children nationwide from birth to age 21.

Tuesday, National Institutes of Health officials called for proposals from research institutions, health agencies and others on how they would manage a study of this magnitude in their communities. The actual "vanguard" or initial sites will be selected and begin work next fall, according to program office director for the study, Dr. Peter Scheidt. The eight counties were selected by the National Center for Health Statistics based on their demographics to get a sampling what would provide an accurate portrait of overall life in the United States.

But being selected will hinge on the proposals received, and how many sites are selected initially will depend as well on how much funding is available.

The study, authorized by Congress as the Children's Health Act of 2000, is a look at nature versus nurture, the goal to improve the future for children by looking at what effect different things in their environment and their genetics have on children's health and development. It's the most ambitious study of children ever planned.

The goal, Scheidt said, "is to answer important questions and concerns about a range of environmental exposures to children, from chemical exposures to how much of what kind of television children watch." Planners hope it will "answer important questions about the causes and contributions to serious conditions and diseases in children."

For instance, does environment impact autism? Asthma? Obesity? And is what I'm doing to my children harmful in any way? Scheidt said. "It's designed to answer both of those kinds of concerns by linking them."

Shaping policy and improving health for children are likely to be important benefits, he said.

While the study will follow participants for 21 years, within three years planners expect to have some solid results to release, such as information about birth outcomes.

Priority health themes for the study are pregnancy outcomes, child growth and development, injury, asthma and psychological and emotional health.

Information will be gathered from in-person and phone visits, and biological samples will be taken from mother, father and child. Air, water, soil and dust samples will also be taken from the child's environment. That means that exposure to things in the environment can be analyzed to see their impact on health outcomes for the children.