National Children’s Study Update

 

 

TO:                  Interested Investigators
FROM:            Jack Moye, Jr., MD for the National Children’s Study Program Staff
SUBJECT:        The National Children’s Study Archive Expands
DATE:              May 23, 2016

The National Children’s Study (NCS) Vanguard Data and Sample Archive and Access System (NCS Archive) opened March 1, 2016 and now expands to include additional data and biological and environmental samples.

As you know, the NCS Vanguard was a pilot for a planned cohort study of environmental influences on child health and development.  Starting in 2009, recruitment strategies were tested in 43 counties across 31 states throughout the U.S. The study enrolled over 5,600 birth families and followed them through 2014.  At study visits, questionnaires and interviews, neuro-psychosocial and cognitive assessments, and physical examination data were collected, along with nearly 25,000 biological and environmental primary samples from which a sample repository of over 250,000 items was created.   That information and material is being made available through the NCS Archive for approved research projects by qualified investigators.

 

The initial release consisted of study data from 2009-2010. The new release adds:

 

  • Data from 2011-2014 through the 18-month study visit
  • Laboratory test result data, and an
  • Option to request biological and environmental samples

 

Release of the remaining study visit data is expected later this year.

 

Enhancements to the NCS Archive reflect the newly available Alternate Recruitment Substudy data and Vanguard Study samples, and feature:

 

  • A May 2016 update to the NCS Study Description and Guidedocument
  • New Research Tools, including a Sample Explorer
  • Updated Protocol Browser, Variable Locator, and Instrument and Dataset Inventories

 

Already the NCS Archive hosts over 100 registered users with more than 1,100 visits from 14 or more countries across 4 continents, and currently is processing a number of research requests on topics that include:

 

  • Biomarkers and questionnaire/observation data for assessment of urinary VOCs in pregnant women
  • Perchlorate and other thyroid antagonists, thyroid function, and diet in U.S. pregnant women
  • Residential relocation in a longitudinal study of young children and parents
  • Technical error of measurement in home-based pediatric anthropometry
  • Racial and income segregation and food environment relationships with perceived social support, food security, and pregnant women’s diet and infant feeding choices
  • Gene-environment interaction and child development
  • Mother’s prenatal stress, social support, and infant temperament

 

We remind users that the purpose of the NCS Vanguard Study was to test procedures for use in a larger study, and due to its pilot nature, identical evaluations were not conducted on all participants.

 

Additional information is available on the NCS web page of the NICHD public website.

We hope you visit and find the NCS Archive a valuable resource.  We welcome comments or questions at [email protected].

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