In 2000, Congress passed the Children’s Health Act (Public Law 106-310), which directs the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to conduct a 20 year study--the National Children’s Study (NCS)—to examine the impact of environmental factors on the health and development of children. The study will examine more than 100,000 children, from before birth until the age of 21, to determine the root causes of a number of childhood and adult conditions and diseases, including:
- birth defects and pregnancy-related problems;
- injuries;
- asthma;
- obesity;
- diabetes; and
- behavior, learning, and mental health disorders.
As part of this initiative, NIH will be collecting specimens for both internal studies, as well as external ‘adjunct’ studies. When fully operational, the agency will have 105 study sites around the country. NIH plans to start enrolling the first participants in the summer of 2008.
AACC's Role
AACC has endorsed the study and is advising NIH on laboratory-related issues. The Association’s Pediatric Reference Range Committee hopes to use the data gathered from the study to develop pediatric reference ranges. In addition, the PRRC is planning to conduct a series of adjunct studies, in conjunction with the NIH initiative, to address key analytes not addressed by NCS.
NCS Story
Other Sites of Interest
Recent AACC Position Statements