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Nurses for Newborns to collaborate on the largest study of child health ever conducted in this country! Read the press announcement below:
Announcing the National Child Study Center
SLU, SIUE, Washington University and SIU Med School Collaborate
The National Institutes of Health has selected the city of St. Louis and Macoupin County, Ill., as sites for the National Children's Study, the largest study of child and human health ever conducted in the United States. The extensive population-based study looks at the health and development of children by following them from before birth to adulthood. Saint Louis University School of Public Health is partnering on the project with Saint Louis University School of Medicine, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Nursing, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and St. Louis Battelle Memorial Institute.
Saint Louis University is one of 22 new study centers added to the National Children's Study, which will follow a representative sample of 100,000 children from before birth to age 21. 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. Saint Louis University expects to enroll 250 participants from the city of St. Louis and 250 participants from Macoupin County, a rural county, for each of four years starting in 2009. The study begins either prior to conception or in the first trimester of pregnancy.
The study examines health patterns of a large population and is similar in scope to the Framingham Heart Study and the Women's Health Initiative, which also investigated risk factors for major chronic diseases. Data will be collected at home and in health clinics. Researchers will gather data on a child's genetic makeup and a number of biological, chemical, environmental, physical and psychosocial factors. 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. The study team welcomes community input and feedback.
If you have questions, concerns, or ideas that you wish to share, you may contact Dr. Vetta L. Sanders Thompson at 314-977-4044 or sandersv@slu.edu.
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