A 20-year, $3.2 billion study to be launched in January will track the health of 100,000 American children from before birth to age 21. The National Children’s Study will seek to identify factors behind a host of conditions including autism, learning disabilities, ADHD and obesity.
National Institutes of Health officials say they hope the study, to be conducted at 105 locations throughout the United States, can help pinpoint early-life influences that affect later development, with the goal of learning new ways to treat or prevent illness, Reuters reports.
Researchers will collect genetic and biological samples from people in the study as well as samples from the homes of the women and their babies including air, water, dust and materials used to construct their residences, the NIH said.
The first data from the study could be available in 2012 or 2013.
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