ROGERS — Mothers and children in Benton County will soon play a vital role in the National Children’s Study that began earlier this year.
The study will be the largest of its kind undertaken in the United States. It will study 100,000 children from conception until 21 years of age, Dr. James Robbins, director of Child Health Services Research at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, said.
During a meeting of the Benton County Community Coalition at the Rogers Public Library, a local group whose mission is to promote an improved quality of life for Benton County residents, Robbins explained Benton County’s role in the national study.
In Benton County, a group of women of child-bearing ages will be selected at random from various areas in the county. When they become pregnant, those babies will be studied in hopes of determining the causes of several diseases including asthma, obesity and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Information gathered during the study also be used as a part of the Human Genome project, a research project designed to map human DNA, Robbins said.
Learning the causal factors of many of theses ailments will save the state and the federal government money in the long run. For example, being able to reduce premature births from 12 percent to 7 percent will save Arkansas more than $92 million each year in newborn hospital costs alone, Robbins said.
Researchers are currently in the process of dividing up the county to ensure each area is represented by the study, Robbins said, noting the next step would be to identify women who are willing to participate in the study.
As early as next fall, Robbins hopes to be able to hold town-hall meetings in Benton County to provide more information on the project.
In January 2012, Benton County’s portion of the National Children’s Study will begin with, hopefully, the first baby to be studied being born that spring, Robbins said.
“For children’s health, this is like landing a man on the moon. It is that significant,” Robbins said. With the National Children’s Study, “we will learn whether things we know children are exposed to are having a negative effect.”
Wylene Cohagen attended Robbins’ presentation on Wednesday and was excited to hear about the study.
“I had no idea the depth and how meaningful (the National Children’s Study) will be for generations to come,” Cohagen said.
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