Wednesday, February 9, 2011

National asthma study to include children from Westmoreland County

The health and wellness of children in the next 20 years could change for the better -- possibly identifying the causes of asthma and even autism. Westmoreland County was recently chosen as one of 105 counties nationwide to participate in the largest long-term examination of children's health ever.

The National Children's Study, conducted by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, will follow 100,000 children from before birth to age 21 to learn how heredity and the environment influences their health, development and quality of life. Locally, the study will target individuals in New Kensington, Arnold, Jeanette, Latrobe, Ligonier, Irwin and North Huntingdon.

"The Children's Health Act was passed in 2000, and it called for the establishment and carrying out of the National Children's Study," said Jane Cauley, principal investigator for the study and a professor and vice chair for research in the department of epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health. "So, this has been in the works for quite a long time. It has had some ups and downs in terms of funding issues."

Cauley said Westmoreland County was chosen based on it's location, diversity and the number of children born, and will be used to evaluate different recruitment strategies for enrolling participants.

"(The University of Pittsburgh) had nothing to do with what counties were chosen," she said. "They are hoping the areas are a representation of the United States as a whole."

Residents living on randomly selected streets in the areas selected will receive letters explaining the study. Nina Markovic, project manager/co-investigator for the study, said the names of the streets must remain classified because of participant confidentiality.

Markovic said letters will be mailed to every resident on the streets beginning the week of February 20. Additional letters with questionnaires will follow, she said. Cauley said all women of child-bearing age are eligible to participate in the study, whether they do or do not plan to get pregnant or already are.

"Fifty percent of pregnancies are not planned," she said. "That is why we enroll women who are not pregnant. And, so, if they are of reproductive age we ask them to fill out the questionnaire. Right now, for the pilot, we would like to evaluate 300 births."

The participants will be evaluated on a variety of detailed information including biological and environmental samples, as well as aspects of daily life and how it interacts with genes to affect health and development.

"Not only will the air quality of where they live be evaluated but the school and church they attend and behavior influences," Cauley said.

Cauley hopes the study will answer questions such as whether asthma is influenced by air quality and whether weight gain during pregnancy relates to childhood obesity in later years. "The outcome of the study is to promote the health of children in generations to come," she said. "The family is important, however, the focus is on the child and the mother before and during pregnancy."

In addition to the Westmoreland study, the NICHD will conduct studies in Montgomery, Philadelphia and Schuylkill counties in Pennsylvania, institute spokesman Robert Bock said.

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