The UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities will conduct the world’s largest study on the effects of the environment on children’s health.
The National Children’s Study will track 100,000 children from preconception to age 21 to examine the impact of environmental health factors, said Will Nicholas, co-director of the UCLA Study Center for the National Children’s Study. These factors include air quality, family dynamics and genetics.
“Tracking kids for that long of a time allows for definitive analysis of the long-term (environmental) effects on children’s health,” Nicholas said.
Women between the ages of 18 and 49 who are pregnant or trying to get pregnant and are living within the boundaries of randomly selected neighborhoods across the United States are eligible for the study, Nicholas said.
Participating mothers will periodically answer survey questions, have home visits and provide blood and urine samples, he said.
As children get older, they will fill out surveys with their mother’s help, said Ali Taghavi, communications manager for the study.
Researchers will collect environmental samples of dust, soil and air to complement the data from the surveys, Nicholas said.
Taghavi said trends from the data will be reported to the community around every five years.
UCLA undergraduates can volunteer to coordinate community outreach programs, such as tutoring, to build relationships with organizations that support the study. Students will be involved in research by conducting surveys in the pre-selected communities to gauge awareness of the study, Nicholas said.
Taghavi said students will help educate about the impact of environmental factors on children’s health.
“This is the kind of study that will form all levels of health policy for years to come,” Nicholas said.
The study has been in its pilot recruitment since February and will begin late 2012. It is led by UCLA in partnership with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, USC and other major organizations.