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."
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