IRVINE -- UC Irvine will receive an additional $14.5 million from the National Institutes of Health to expand the National Children's Study -- the largest study of child development and health ever conducted in the U.S. -- and to establish a new study location in Kern County.
This award supplements $14.6 million UCI received in 2005 to establish the Orange County Vanguard Center of the NCS and $25.9 million received last year to establish sites in San Diego and San Bernardino counties.
"This award marks an important next step in an effort that brings together experts from pediatrics, obstetrics, medicine, epidemiology, psychiatry, psychology, public health and nursing," said Dr. David N. Bailey, vice chancellor of health affairs. "We believe that discoveries coming from this comprehensive effort someday will prevent many childhood disorders common in today's society."
Researchers will follow a representative sample of 105,000 children nationwide from before birth to age 21, seeking to identify genetic and environmental causes of pressing health problems such as premature birth, obesity, diabetes, asthma, autism and ADHD.
Orange, San Diego, San Bernardino and Kern counties comprise the Southern and Central California study, which is overseen by UCI pediatrics professor James Swanson and medicine professor Dean Baker.
The Orange County team will begin recruiting family participants in April 2009; San Diego will start in 2010; San Bernardino in 2011; and Kern in 2011. Each location will enroll 1,000 families and will track the children's health until age 21.
UCI's participation began in 2005 with the Orange County Vanguard Center, one of seven U.S. sites designated to kick off NCS, and campus investigators have led national teams to refine data-gathering procedures.
The study will be conducted in 105 locations across the country that together represent the diverse U.S. population. The study is a collaborative effort between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Children's Health Act of 2000 directed federal agencies to undertake the research.
While NCS funding is awarded to UCI as regional overseer, the money will be distributed as follows to the four area locations:
• Orange County: $17.6 million
• San Bernardino County: $10.4 million
• San Diego County: $13.8 million
• Kern County: $13.2 million
In addition to leading the area study, Swanson and Baker work at the Orange County site with fellow UCI researchers, including pediatrics chair Feizal Waffarn, psychiatry associate professor Pathik Wadhwa and psychology professor Alison Clarke-Stewart.
Children and Families Commission of Orange County, Children's Hospital of Orange County, and the Orange County Health Care Agency are UCI's community partners. Researchers from California State University, Bakersfield; California State University, San Bernardino; Loma Linda University; San Diego State University; UC Berkeley; and UC San Diego also are participating, as is the National Opinion Research Center.
Overall, UCI has been awarded $55.2 million in NCS funding since the program began in 2005.
Previous UCI National Children's Study announcements:
2007: www.today.uci.edu/news/release_detail.asp?key=1672
2005: http://today.uci.edu/news/release_detail.asp?key=1387
About the NCS: www.nationalchildrensstudy.gov
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