BCM to be part of largest-ever NIH children's study
By Glenna Picton
A Texas contingent led by Baylor College of Medicine has received a $14.4 million, five-year contract to become part of the National Children's Study, a National Institutes of Health project that will evaluate the long-term effects of the environment and genetics on youngsters' health from before birth to age 21.
Among the local collaborators are BCM, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center at Houston, UT San Antonio, Houston Department of Health and Human Services and Battelle Memorial Institute, a large independent, nonprofit research organization.
Landmark study
"The National Children's Study will be a landmark study of genetic and environmental effects on child health," said Claudia Kozinetz, Ph.D., associate professor of pediatrics at BCM and the principal investigator of the Harris County Study Center. "It is a huge study, and it is a great honor for Baylor College of Medicine to be selected as a leader. This will be yet another strong model for collaboration among the top institutes of the Texas Medical Center."
The National Children's Study is the largest such research project ever undertaken in the United States and will involve at least 100,000 youngsters as participants over a 21-year period. Locally, researchers will enroll approximately 1,000 children with future funding to enroll an additional 1,000. The local arm of the study will be called the Harris County Hospitals and Universities National Children's Study.
Data collection
Researchers will gather environmental and social information from participants including clinical health history, nutrition and demographics. They will gather biologic samples and environmental samples including air, dust and soil from the participants' environments.
Data collection is expected to begin in Harris County in 2011, once researchers determine the segments of the county for inclusion, said Kozinetz, also director of the Epidemiology Center at Texas Children's Hospital and BCM.
The Harris County site is one of 36 new and existing study centers that would recruit study volunteers from a total of 72 locations.
When it is fully operational, the study is expected to include from 36 to 50 study centers in the planned 105 study locations throughout the United States.
First phase: pregnancy
"The first phase of the National Children's Study will center around pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes, early infant health and early neurodevelopment," said Kozinetz.
Kozinetz anticipates a host of ancillary studies to accompany this one, putting BCM and Houston at the forefront of such environmental research.
"This is a real significant endeavor and its findings will benefit all," said Kozinetz.
Key investigators on the study include Drs. Stuart Abramson, Chantal Caviness, Charleta Guillory, Marc Hanfling, Lane Strathearn and Kjersti Aagaard-Tillery, all of BCM; Drs. Sean Blackwell, Beatrice Selwyn, Ken Sexton, all of UTHSC-H; Drs. Melissa Bondy and Michele Forman of M.D. Anderson; Dr. Cathy Troisi of the HDHHS; Dr. Lowell Sever of the Battelle Memorial Institute and Dr. Karl Eschbach of UTSA.
Funding for this study comes from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
For more information on the study, visit the National Children's Study web site.
