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Nigel Paneth, MSU professor of epidemiology, and pediatrics and human development. Photo by G.L. Kohuth

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EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University has secured $57 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health to expand its role in the largest research project ever to study children’s health and the causes of ailments such as autism, cerebral palsy and asthma.

As part of an alliance with Michigan’s top research universities, health care systems and state and local health agencies, MSU is leading the state’s role in the National Children’s Study, which will monitor more than 100,000 children from before birth to age 21. The $57 million in funding announced today will allow MSU to study children in Genesee, Grand Traverse, Lenawee and Macomb counties.  That money is in addition to $18.5 million announced last fall for study work in Wayne County.

“This is the largest human health study ever undertaken,” said Nigel Paneth, MSU professor of epidemiology, and pediatrics and human development and the project’s principal investigator.  “By following children from before birth and studying their environment, we will be able to seek out ways to prevent many of the diseases children now suffer from.”

The project will follow about 1,000 participants in each of the five counties to study the environmental influences that affect them, including toxins, nutrition, physical living conditions and socioeconomic factors, Paneth said. Children will continually be assessed throughout their development, including before birth.

“MSU’s leading role in this groundbreaking children’s health study reinforces our commitment to work with other institutions and community partners to co-create solutions that improve the quality of life for children and families in Michigan,” MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon said. “The additional funding expands the geographic reach of the study and enables the investigators to include thousands more children and families.”

Project collaborators include MSU, University of Michigan, Wayne State University, Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Henry Ford Health System, Michigan Department of Community Health, and the health departments of each of the five participating counties. 

Planning for this project began in 2002 when MSU and the other partners formed the Michigan Alliance for the National Children’s Study. The idea, said Paneth, was that each institution brings unique skills to the table:  

• MSU will coordinate the overall work of the study and house the main study office at its East Lansing campus. MSU Extension will play a major role in developing community engagement in each of the five counties.
• U-M will be responsible for enrolling and interviewing study participants and assessing postnatal child development.
• WSU will oversee the assessment and care of pregnant women. Children’s Hospital of Michigan will manage the repository for biological samples.
• Henry Ford Health System will work with MSU extension to develop community support for the survey, manage environmental samples and oversee medical examinations of children.
• MDCH will provide information related to live birth characteristics and locations in each of the five participating counties. 

Participants for the study will begin being enrolled in 2010 in Wayne County; 2011 in Grand Traverse and Lenawee counties; and 2012 in Genesee and Macomb counties.

For more information, visit the Michigan Alliance for the National Children's Study Web site at www.epi.msu.edu/mancs/ or the NIH National Children’s Study Web site at www.nationalchildrensstudy.gov.

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