The National Children's Study (NCS) is the largest and most comprehensive long-term study of children's health and development ever attempted in the United States. The NCS will track the health status of 100,000 children from before birth through age 21, with the overall goal of improving the health and well being of children.
The study, sponsored by the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and a consortium of other federal agencies, has the potential to support breakthrough research on the factors affecting child health, including genetics and a wide range of environmental influences. From its initiation and for decades to follow, the NCS will provide health researchers and practitioners with powerful resources for understanding the etiology of childhood illness and the possibilities for developing interventions to prevent them.
In addition to the NCS work already underway at the University of Wisconsin’s Vanguard Center, NORC will play an important part in nine National Children’s Study Centers. Work will vary from center to center and may include some or all of the following tasks:
- Data collection coordination
- Listing
- Household screening
- Participant enrollment
- In-person and telephone interviewing
- Bio-specimen and environmental sampling
- Clinic/hospital-based data collection
- Technical consultation on sampling design
The study centers in which NORC will play a role include:
Greater Chicago National Children’s Study Center
University of Massachusetts
University of Pittsburgh
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)
University of Minnesota
Maine Medical Center
University of Louisville
University of Iowa
University of California - Irvine
To learn more, visit the federal government's National Children's Study site.