National Children's Study (NCS)

The National Children’s Study (NCS) was established by federal legislation in 1999 in order to better understand the determinants of health of children in the United States. Over the course of the study, approximately 100,000 children will be observed from before birth through age 21 in an effort to examine how the environments in which children grow up affect their life-long health and well-being. In particular, the study will examine the effects of biological, chemical, physical, social, psychological, and behavioral influences on the long-term health and development of children. Notable for more than the size of its cohort, the NCS will use an unusual three-tiered recruitment process to target not only pregnant women and their partners, but couples planning pregnancy, and women of childbearing age who are not currently planning a pregnancy. This makes the NCS a rare opportunity to examine how physical, social, psychological, and environmental conditions during early pregnancy and even prior to conception may affect health during childhood and beyond.

Designated one of 29 nationwide study centers in September 2007, UCLA will begin to enroll an initial group of 1000 Los Angeles County Births in 2009 and will add another 4000 births in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties in subsequent years, pending Congressional funding. Based at the University of California- Los Angeles (UCLA), the NCS-LAVSC is a collaborative effort of UCLA, University of Southern California (USC), Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Charles R. Drew University Medicine and Science, First 5 Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Department of Public Health, and the Research Triangle Institute. The NCS-LAVSC is proposed to be a cooperative endeavor that would join the expertise of our local universities and research institutions with community-based organizations, local health departments, and hospitals, all in the service of better understanding the threats to children’s health and development. Data emerging from the study will be used to better inform local programs, policy, and practice, as well as to generate substantive changes in the delivery systems and services that are available to children in Los Angeles County.

For additional information, please contact Emily Barrett, PhD, MPH.