National Children's Study

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The National Children’s Study (NCS) is designed to examine how maternal health and the fetal environment are associated with survival, health, and development of children. It is the largest study of child health and development ever done in the U.S.: 100,000 pregnant women will be enrolled and followed during and after pregnancy, with their children followed until age 21. It will asses how hundreds of social, physical, and environmental exposures affect a wide variety of conditions in the children, including obesity, asthma, diabetes, schizophrenia, and autism.^[1]

This study is led by a consortium of federal agency partners: the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ( through the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. More than 40 other federal agencies and departments have assisted.^[1]

The study defines "environment" broadly and will take a number of issues into account, including:

Natural and man-made environment factors
Biological and chemical factors
Physical surroundings
Social factors
Behavioral influences and outcomes
Genetics
Cultural and family influences and differences
Geographic locations

Researchers will analyze how these elements interact with each other and what helpful and/or harmful effects they might have on children’s health. By studying children through their different phases of growth and development, researchers will be better able to understand the role of these factors on health and disease. The NCS aims to enroll at least 25 percent of the women in the study before they become pregnant, to get as much information as possible about the prenatal environment of the children subsequently enrolled in the study. Findings from the study will be made available as soon as possible as the research progresses, within a few years after the study begins.

The study will also allow scientists to find the differences that exist between groups of people, in terms of their health, health care access, disease occurrence, and other issues, so that these differences or disparities can be addressed.

The NCS will serve as one of the richest information resources available for answering questions related to children’s health and development and will form the basis of child health guidance, interventions, and policy for generations to come. It is anticipated that the preliminary results from the first years of the study will be available in 2009-2010.