PARKER, Colo. -- Haylee Moore is three weeks from having her
third child, and autism runs in her family.
Moore's mother has 12 siblings, four of whom have children with
autism.
"Autism is a little bit scary," she said.
Moore, 33, who lives in Parker southeast of Denver, has applied
to be part of a longitudinal study announced Wednesday that she
hopes will answer questions about how the disorder is transmitted
among families.
The National Children's Study, funded by the National Institutes
of Health, will track children here and 104 other communities
nationwide from before birth to the age of 21 to see how their
environment affects their health.
"I think it's a wonderful opportunity to hopefully get some
answers about some of these diseases and disorders that we don't
know what causes them and how they are passed through families,"
Moore said.
The Colorado study is being done through a partnership including
the Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado School
of Medicine and the Battelle Memorial Institute.
Officials are hoping to sign up 100,000 families from the 105
communities, including 1,000 subjects in Douglas County where Moore
lives.
The research will be the largest long-term study ever done of
environmental and genetic influences in children in the entire
country.
"We hope to better understand how children, their genes and
their environment interact to affect the growth and development of
these children," said Dr. Dana Dabelea of the Colorado School of
Public Health.
Dabelea said the study will examine a variety of factors related
to how children live -- from the tap water, dust and the air in
their homes, to the actions of the parents (such as whether they
smoke or drink alcohol) to what children eat and how they are cared
for.
Initially, participants will be asked questions about their
children's environment. Some may be asked to submit blood, urine
and hair samples. Visits to their homes also will take place.
Researchers hope to better understand such diseases and
disorders as autism, diabetes, obesity, asthma, pediatric cancers,
learning disabilities and even injuries.
The environment a fetus is exposed to is also important for the
study, Dabelea said.
Within the first five years, the study will produce insight into
pregnancy, premature births and birth disorders.
The study is similar to the Framingham Heart Study, which since
1948 has followed a group of people and their children and
grandchildren to better understand the factors that contribute to
cardiovascular disease.
On Wednesday, the study group began recruiting pregnant women
and women who plan to become pregnant.
Participants will receive compensation for their time and
effort.
The test communities were selected to ensure a comprehensive
sample of diverse families and children from throughout the
country.
Douglas County was chosen because of its location, excellent
schools and its rural and suburban mix, according to the National
Children's Study.
Organizers say what they learn from the study group could be
groundbreaking and may lead to advances in treatments and behavior
modifications for all sorts of diseases and disorders.
"There's never been a study that large and that comprehensive
as the National Children's Study," Dabelea said.