About the National Children's Study:
The National Children’s Study (NCS) will be the largest long-term study of children’s health and development ever conducted in the United States. The NCS will examine environmental influences on children’s health and development in order to improve the health and well-being of children.
More than 100,000 children across the United States will participate in the National Children’s Study, sponsored by the NIH/NICHD. Researchers will follow children from before birth until age 21. Study scientists will examine family genetics, neighborhoods and schools, chemical exposures, food and water, as well as children’s social and behavioral environments to pinpoint the root causes of manyof today’s major childhood diseases and disorders, and determine not only which aspects of the environment are harmful, but also which are harmless or helpful to children’s health and development.
Salt Lake County is one of the first seven sites (Vanguard Centers) selected to pilot the NCS. The Salt Lake County Vanguard Center is led by the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Utah. Cache County is the second site in Utah also being led by the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Utah in collaboration with the Early Intervention Research Institute at Utah State University. The Salt Lake County Vanguard Center will begin study participant enrollment in the fall of 2008 in 15 selected neighborhoods within Salt Lake County.