AURORA, Colo.—The roots of chronic health problems in adults can run deep.
Everything from asthma to obesity can have origins in childhood, said Steve Daniels, chairman of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Even environmental elements like the content of tap water and the presence of dust in a child’s home may have wide-ranging and long-lasting effects.
“We’re recognizing more and more that a lot of what happens in childhood actually has long-term implications for adult health,” Daniels said. “There are so many different types of (environmental) questions that can be answered.”
During the next quarter century, two institutions based on the Anschutz Medical Campus will work with national organizations to start answering questions about children’s health and environmental influences.
The Colorado School of Public Health and the University of Colorado School of Medicine recently helped launch a local study regarding children’s health, genetics and environment. The push to gather data from Douglas County families during the next 25 years is part of a larger, historic effort, one of the largest long-term studies on children’s health in the history of the United States.
The two Aurora-based schools have partnered for the local recruitment phase of the National Children’s Study, a nationwide effort funded through the National Institute of Health.
The study, which was formally launched last week, will encompass more than 105 sites nationwide and include an estimated 1000,000 children as participants. The local study has a budget of $13.5 million for the next five years.
“No such study has ever been conducted in the U.S. or elsewhere,” said Dana Dabelea, principal investigator in the local study and a professor at the Colorado School of Public Health. “By following the plan of 100,000 children before they are born until they are 21, the study helps to understand how genetics and environment interact in determining health and disease.
“(It’s) from the social environment, the biochemical environment, the air, the water, what they eat, how they’re cared for, everything,” she added.
Locally, the CSPH and the CU School of Medicine will team up with the Battelle Memorial Institute to find participants in Douglas County. Specifically, organizers will seek women who are or may become pregnant within the next few years. In the study’s first phases, subjects will answer questionnaires regarding the learning environments, play environments and health history of their children.
These initial questionnaires may be followed up with later visits to clinics, where participants will provide blood and urine samples, along with items like tap water and house dust from their homes.
The process officially began in 2000, after Congress passed the National Children’s Health Act.
“It’s actually been in the works for about 10 years. The most intensive planning took place about two and a half years ago,” said Patty Nash, project Director for the National Children’s Study in Douglas County. “Last year, the first seven National Children’s Study Centers launched their programs. Now we’re about to launch another 30.”
In Colorado, organizers chose Douglas County as an area of focus for its mix of population, education levels and lifestyles, Nash said.
“It’s a very highly educated county. Ninety-seven percent of the residents have high school degrees,” Nash said. “They have great schools. The county is very family oriented … The combination of all the different characteristics, the rural and the suburban mix, all of those different things combined make it somewhat unique.”
While the study is slated to span a quarter of a century, Dabelea said researchers will start producing viable data much sooner.
“It’s really very exciting for a researcher to be a part of the study. Do we have to wait 21 years to get results? No, we don’t,” Dabelea said, adding that the data can offer insights to everything from diabetes to childhood cancers. “Certain things can be studied within the next five years … We don’t have to wait 21 years for everything.”
But before crucial questions about environment and health can be answered, staff at both UCH and the Colorado School of Public Health have a massive undertaking on their hands. Finding participants for the study is only the first step in a process that will require an unseen amount of logistical attention.
“It’s really kind of an unprecedented thing. It’s also a daunting task,” Daniels said. “Starting really prior to birth, then to follow them sequentially over time is really a big task. I think everybody involved in the study recognizes that.”
The staff at both institutions will start with outreach. Getting the word out to potential participants is a crucial beginning, officials say.
“Our biggest challenge right now is to get the word out. You’ll see ads in paper, in movie theaters, in malls. We’re going to have a number of different venues … The staff are actually going out into the community and attending various community events.
The outcome of the recruitment effort could help steer the larger effort in the rest of the state, Daniels said.
“There are different stages to that. The current timeline is to really get this pilot study done over the next 12 months or so. What we do, the information will then be pooled to decide on what are the best approaches for recruitment which will then inform the bigger study,” Daniels said. “The thought is that the bigger study … will include both Douglas County and Denver County.”
It’s a push that researchers say could have a much wider impact, an effect that spans decades and reaches across geographical boundaries.
“I just think that the study is really an opportunity for Douglas County, but as well as for the nation,” Nash said. “I think being involved in this study really opens up a lot of opportunity … to find out what kind of environments promote optimal health for these kids.”
