SDSU and UCSD Experts Lead Local Coalition in Landmark Child Health Study

Contact:
Lorena Nava
San Diego State University
(619) 594-3952 office
lnava@mail.sdsu.edu

SAN DIEGO (Thursday, October 4, 2007) — San Diego State University and the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, along with the First 5 Commission and the San Diego County Department of Health and Human Services Agency, have been selected as a study center in the National Children's Study (NCS), the largest study of child and human health ever conducted in the nation. The NCS, sponsored by several federal agencies, is a massive long-term project that will identify 105,000 children before birth and follow them until age 21.

This historic project will create a nationwide database allowing for the evaluation of some of the common and rare disorders of childhood that seem to be increasing at epidemic rates: preterm birth, obesity, asthma, diabetes, ADHD, autism and more. The local coalition will recruit 1,000 participants in San Diego County and collect data to assess the effects of environmental and genetic factors on child and human health.

Photo credit: National Children's Study

Co-Principal Investigator Mel Hovell, SDSU professor of behavioral science in the Graduate School of Public Health, adds expertise in child psychology and behavioral epidemiology to the team and believes that “the NCS offers an unprecedented opportunity to reveal insights necessary to prevent major diseases of children, such as childhood autism and asthma, and will help prevent adult heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis and others.”

The announcement today names 22 new study centers across the United States to be added to the nationwide collaborative, which began in 2005 with establishment of seven centers. UC Irvine is the study center that will be contracting with San Diego and San Bernardino Counties. A national probability sample was used to select the counties in the study, taking into account factors such as race and ethnicity, income, education level, number of births and number of babies born with low birth weights.

“This is an unparalleled collaboration and our institutions have an important role to contribute to this study,” said UCSD Principal Investigator Christina D. Chambers, UCSD School of Medicine associate professor of pediatrics and family and preventive medicine. “We bring unique expertise, not only regarding pregnancy exposure and outcomes and children's health but we also offer a unique environment. We are a border community with long-term experience dealing with prenatal and child health concerns and cross border issues.”

The new study centers include participation of UCSD and SDSU; California State University, San Bernardino and Loma Linda University; University of Southern California and Cedar Sinai Hospital; the First 5 Commissions of each county; and the County Health Departments of each location.

The San Diego coalition will begin study operations in 2007, and will deliver some of the first outcome measures of the NCS, available as early as 2010, centering around environmental effects on birth outcomes including physical anomalies.

Chambers, a perinatal epidemiologist whose research focuses on environmental causes of adverse pregnancy outcomes, will lead a team of eight UCSD co-investigators. Hovell, of SDSU, is an internationally recognized scholar in the field of health promotion. His findings have led to a better understanding of medical concerns such as asthma, arthritis, diabetes, STDs, breast cancer, heart disease, hepatitis and osteoporosis. 

San Diego County Department of Health and Human Service Agency will work with the local coalition to facilitate community liaison activities and assist with the special procedures required for representative sample selection throughout the County.

First 5 Commission, San Diego shares common goals with the purpose of the NCS. The Commission will work with NCS investigators to raise community awareness and implement community engagement activities that will be essential to the success of this study.

Background

The National Children's Study is a collaborative effort between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (including the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The study began in response to the Children's Health Act of 2000, when Congress directed the NICHD and other federal agencies to undertake a national, long-term study of children's health and development in relation to environmental exposures. The Vanguard centers, the first seven centers, were established in 2005, including one in Orange County California. Eventually, there will be 105 NCS Locations (12 in California ), with each identifying and following 1,000 children. The study locations are representative of the entire U.S. population.

The new study centers were selected based on rigorous criteria: a strong ability to collect data for the study, the ability to build extensive community networks for recruiting eligible women and newborns, and a demonstrated capability to protect the privacy of the information collected. The centers will begin hiring and training staff, meeting with local community groups and health care professionals to inform them about the study and forming community advisory boards to inform communities about the developments in a range of study-related issues. For more information on the National Children's Study, please visit NationalChildrensStudy.gov.

San Diego State University is the oldest and largest higher education institution in the San Diego region. Since it was founded in 1897, the university has grown to offer bachelor's degrees in 81 areas, master's degrees in 73 areas and doctorates in 16 areas. SDSU's approximately 35,000 students participate in an academic curriculum distinguished by direct contact with faculty and an increasing international emphasis that prepares them for a global future. For more information, visit www.sdsu.edu.

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