You are here:
DEVELOPMENT OF EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT STUDY DESIGN FOR THE NATIONAL CHILDREN'S STUDY (NCS)
Citation:
Ozkaynak, A H., J J. Quackenboss, W. Strauss, M. G. Nishioka, J. Lehman, M. Morara, L. Ryan, S. Park, C. Arroya, AND D. Locke. DEVELOPMENT OF EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT STUDY DESIGN FOR THE NATIONAL CHILDREN'S STUDY (NCS). Presented at National Children's Study (NCS), Atlanta, GA, December 15-17, 2003.
Impact/Purpose:
The overall objective of the NERL NCS Pilot Project is to investigate optimal approaches for the exposure measurements needed to support the planned Interagency National Children's Study. The objective of this task is to increase the scientific effectiveness of epidemiologic designs while minimizing costs by addressing exposure misclassification.
Description:
The general plan for the exposure monitoring component of the planned National Children's Study (NCS) is to measure indoor and outdoor concentrations and personal exposures for a variety of pollutants, including combustion products and pesticides. Due to the size of the study, it will be infeasible to measure every possible exposure for every child. Hence, an important statistical challenge is to develop an appropriate design that will allow adequate power to detect exposure effects, yet at the same time maintaining feasibility in terms of the number of children to be assessed for various exposure and bio-monitoring measurements. Since the study has a longitudinal design, a related challenge will be deciding a) which exposure-related measurements need to be assessed repeatedly over time; and b) the liming of such repeated exposure assessments. This EPA/ORD/NERL pilot study was conducted with technical assistance from EPA contractors (Battelle), Harvard University and Westat) to investigate the issue of an efficient exposure measurement design for the planned NCS study. This presentation describes the key findings from research to develop cost-effective statistical sampling strategies and optimal design considerations for the NCS.
This work has been funded wholly or in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under a Task Order Contract with Battelle (TO19, 68D99-011). It has been subjected to Agency review and approved for publication. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.