Researchers of Child Health Looking for Family Participation

Researchers are seeking information about a number of childhood maladies, and plan to closely follow a few thousand Chicago-area children from gestation to drinking age to gather the information.

Volunteers are now requested after the start of the Chicago portion of the study was launched Tuesday.

Researchers are looking for help from 2,000 women who are or expect to become pregnant and are willing to have their children scrutinized until they turn 21. Researchers will examine everything from what the kids eat and drink to the soil around their homes and the air they breathe.

The data collected here will join additional information in the National Children’s Study, which will eventually scrutinize around 100,000 children nationwide.

The researchers are looking to include the full range of races, ethnicities, and socioeconomic conditions.

Acting director of the national study, Steven Hirschfield expressed, “Chicago will allow us to learn about many circumstances and many situations in which children are raised and which women experience their pregnancies.”

The Chicago neighborhoods and Cook County suburbs will include:

-Alsip
-Cicero
-Country Club Hills
-Englewood
-Harvey
-Hillside
-Hyde Park
-Irving Park
-Norridge
-Northbrook
-Prospect Heights
-Rogers Park
-Schaumburg
-South Lawndale
-Rogers Park
-West Loop

“The goal of the study is to get at some of the underlying causes of many childhood conditions,” such as asthma, obesity and diabetes, said pediatrician and lead researcher for the undertaking’s Greater Study Center, Dr. Jane Holl, adding that the “largest and longest study of women and children to be conducted in the United States,” will also have an impact on adults.

The study, funded by $32 million from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, is also expected to expand to include 1,000 families in DuPage and Will counties next year.