Past Projects
Chemical Safety during Breast Cancer Susceptible Windows
PI:
Barbara Cohn, CHDS
Description:
Development of chemical testing that interrogates effects on high impact pathways in humans is likely to be most effective for identifying and controlling dangerous exposures. We will discover some of these pathways for pregnancy and in utero windows of susceptibility by implementing metabolomics in the CHDS, including the first investigation of paternal contributions to daughter's breast cancer.
Funding Source:
ReThink Plastic
PI:
Barbara Cohn, CHDS
Description:
The goal of this pilot study is to design a social network intervention to reduce plastic use in families with children and adolescents.
Funding Source:
Grandparental Exposures and Risk of Autism in the Third Generation
PI:
Barbara Cohn, CHDS
Description:
This proposal looks for environmental risk factors for autism during the critical period of susceptibility, in the womb. In this study we ask whether specific exposures during the 1960's to grandfathers and grandmothers during conception and pregnancy are linked to autism in their grandchildren. No study has been able to ask this question before now.
Funding Source:
Department of the Army
Reporting Personal Levels of Environmental Chemicals: Impact
PI:
Barbara Cohn, CHDS
Description:
The major goals of this project are to test the hypothesis that personal report-back will increase participant's commitment to research, knowledge about environmental chemicals, and motivate personal and community-level action to reduce exposures; and that personal report-back will motivate women who are often asked for health advice to discuss environmental chemical exposures with their broad networks, spreading the message.
This is the first study of its kind, and is likely to change common practices in environmental research studies that generate exposure data on humans.
This is the first study of its kind, and is likely to change common practices in environmental research studies that generate exposure data on humans.
Funding Source:
Fetal Exposure to maternal stress and inflammation: Effects on Neurodevelopment
PI:
Lauren M. Ellman, Temple University
Description:
This project aims to investigate how maternal (CHDS mothers) stress and maternal inflammation during pregnancy, and fetal hypoxia influence the risk of symptoms of depression during adolescence in offspring (CHDS children).
Funding Source:
Perinatal Exposure to Environmental DDT and Risk of Metabolic Syndrome
PI:
Michele La Merrill, University of California, Davis
Description:
With Dr. La Merrill we will investigate, for the first time, maternal exposures to endocrine-active compounds in relation to biomarkers of metabolic disruption, including hemoglobin A1-C a marker of diabetes.
Funding Source:
Identification of Spectrum Neurodevelopmental Sequelae in CHDS Cohort
PI:
Barbara Cohn, CHDS
Description:
We will identify cases of spectrum of neurodevelopmental sequelae including ADD, ADHD, learning disabilities, sensory processing disorders, mental illness, emotional disturbance, social cognitive deficits and autism spectrum disorder in the CHDS cohort grandchildren. This study prepares for the first three generation study of autism in relation to CHDS mothers exposures.
Funding Source:
Prenatal Environmental Determinants of Intergenerational Risk (PEDIGREE)
PI:
Barbara Cohn, CHDS; Mary Beth Terry, Columbia University
Description:
The investigators will study human exposure to organchlorines during two critical windows of exposure for the breast: 1) pregnancy when preparation for lactation places the breast at risk for cancer in the mother and 2) the prenatal period when breast differentiation places the breast at risk for cancer in the daughter. There are few human studies where exposure to endocrine active compounds during these critical periods can be measured directly in relation to subsequent breast cancer risk. This research addresses this gap and represents a novel and unique opportunity, efficiently using the CHDS cohort that spans two generations. The investigators together with the community partner, Dr. Marj Plumb, will also develop the capacity for cohort members to participate on an advisory council, enhancing the relevance and success of continuing breast cancer research in this unique study population.
Funding Source:
Environmental Causes of Breast Cancer Across Generations
PI:
Barbara Cohn, CHDS
Description:
Tests the idea that prenatal exposure to environmental chemicals increases the risk of breast cancer. Many of these compounds are known to affect fertility, birth outcomes and immune function and are thus suspected causes of or contributors to breast cancer. However, no human study has been able to measure exposure in the womb, a time of vulnerability for the developing fetus.
Funding Source:
A Lifecourse Approach to Emerging Health Disparities in a U.S. Cohort
PI:
Bruce Link, Columbia University; Barbara Cohn, CHDS
Description:
A Lifecourse Approach to Emerging Health Disparities in a U.S. Cohort (DISP) is a new collaboration between CHDS investigators and Columbia University. The study is sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health and Development. The focus of this project is to understand how and when racial and socioeconomic disparities in health emerge over the life course. It will provide critical information for understanding why disparities exist and how they might be addressed.
CHDS staff are now contacting eligible men and women to participate in this study. Please consider joining if you are contacted. You will make an important contribution to scientists' knowledge about how the health of people like you changes over time.
All information provided by participants will be kept completely confidential. The information will not go to the participants' doctor or into their medical records. Participants may refuse to answer any question, and their choice to participate or not will not affect their health coverage in any way. Participants will be compensated for their time and effort.
Funding Source:
Maintenance of the Child Health and Development Studies
PI:
Barbara Cohn, CHDS
Description:
Supports the basic maintenance of data files, provides for the sharing of public use files for other investigators, and gathers new information about study participants as it becomes available.
Funding Source:
Prenatal Organochlorine Metabolites, Thyroid Function and Development
PI:
Pam Factor-Litvak, Columbia University
Description:
Study to assess whether exposure to metabolites of endocrine disrupting compounds during pregnancy is associated with a) adverse development in the offspring at birth, childhood, and adolescence, b) mild deficiencies in the maternal thyroid function, and c) whether adverse developmental findings, if any are attributed in part to deficiencies in exposure to maternal thyroid hormone in utero. This project is a collaboration between CHDS investigators and Columbia University.
Funding Source:
In Utero Organochlorine Exposure and Breast Density
PI:
Barbara Cohn, CHDS
Description:
Tests the hypothesis that in-utero exposure to organochlorine compounds alters breast density in women measured at 40-44 years of age. High breast density is associated with increased risk of breast cancer.
Funding Source:
Early Determinants of Adult Health
PI:
Ezra Susser, Columbia University
Description:
The Early Determinants of Adult Health Study (EDAH) is a collaborative project between CHDS investigators and Columbia University, Harvard University, University of California, Davis, and Kaiser Permanente Division of Research. The study is sponsored by the National Institute on Aging. The study examines how birth weight and other prenatal and childhood factors influence the risk for diabetes, heart disease, breast cancer, and brain function in adulthood. This project launched a new era of research at the CHDS focused on adult health of CHDS "children," who were in their 30s and 40s when the study began.
Funding Source:
Prenatal Factors and Risk of Bipolar Disorder
PI:
Alan Brown, Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene
Description:
Examines the relationship between early developmental insults and risk of adult bipolar affective disorder. Investigators aim to better understand early developmental risk factors for bipolar disorder, and assess whether these factors are specific to schizophrenia. This project is a collaboration with the Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene.
Funding Source:
Prenatal Organochlorine Exposure and Male Reproduction (Study of the Environment and Reproduction)
PI:
Pam Factor-Litvak, Columbia University
Description:
The Study of the Environment and Reproduction (SER) is a joint project between the Child Health and Development Studies (CHDS), Kaiser Permanente, and Columbia University. This study examines the effects of prenatal exposure to pesticides and men's fertility. Prenatal exposure to pesticides could occur if a man's mother was exposed to pesticides before or during her pregnancy. Some pesticides are stored for long periods in the tissues of the body and might affect the developing reproductive system of a fetus during pregnancy.
The recruitment and interview of participants has been completed and the study is now in the analysis phase. The study will measure levels of pesticides in the stored blood samples of women who joined the Child Health and Development Studies about 50 years ago. In addition, men who participated in the CHDS as children and now in this study as adults completed an interview and gave blood and semen samples.
Funding Source:
Prenatal Determinants of Schizophrenia, II
PI:
Catherine Schaefer, Kaiser Permanente Division of Research
Description:
This study investigates the role of prenatal determinants of schizophrenia and schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD).The study builds upon and extends two prior investigations: the original Child Health and Development Study and the Prenatal Determinants of Schizophrenia (PDS) Study, This project is a collaboration with Kaiser Foundation Research Institute.
Funding Source:
Early Determinants of Mammographic Density
PI:
Mary Beth Terry, Columbia University
Description:
The Early Determinants of Mammographic Density Study (EDOMD) is a project by the Child Health and Development Studies (CHDS), Kaiser Permanente, and Columbia University. The purpose of the study is to learn more about the effects of the prenatal period and early childhood on women's adult health, particularly the health of their breasts. In addition to adult experiences such as pregnancy, prenatal and early childhood experiences may affect breast tissue during its development. The density of a woman's breasts on a mammogram may be linked to later risk of breast cancer. This study is particularly interested in the question of whether mammographic density (the amount of the breast that appears dense on a mammogram) is related to prenatal or early childhood factors, including birth weight, and rate of childhood growth, as well as other factors that occurred during the prenatal period. The study builds upon the resources of three birth cohorts: two New England sites of the National Collaborative Perinatal Project (NCPP) and CHDS.
Funding Source:
Estriol, Blood Flow and Breast Cancer Risk
PI:
Barbara Cohn, CHDS
Description:
This study proposed that estriol released from the placenta directly into the uterine vasculature likely explains the fifteen to twenty fold increase in uterine blood flow that occurs during human pregnancy. Lifelong residual vascular effects that enhance clearance of genotoxic and other noxious substances from the breasts may explain the protective effect of pregnancy against breast cancer.
Funding Source:
Findings:
Exposure to DDT, DDE and PCBs Before Birth and Human Testicular Cancer: A Prospective Study Based on Archived Pregnancy Samples
PI:
Barbara Cohn, CHDS
Description:
Testicular cancer incidence arose dramatically worldwide among men born after 1945. The widespread introduction of DDT may have contributed to this increase. This study investigates whether in utero exposure to DDT, DDE, or congener-specific PCBs increase the risk of testicular cancer.
Funding Source:
Findings:
Prenatal DDT Exposure and Testicular Cancer: A Nested Case-Control Study. Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, (2010, in press)
Maternal Smoking, Alcohol, and Coffee Use during Pregnancy and Son's Risk of Testicular Cancer (2009)
Maternal Smoking, Alcohol Consumption, and Caffeine Consumption during Pregnancy in Relation to a Son's Risk of Persistent Cryptorchidism: A Prospective Study in the Child Health and Development Studies Cohort, 1959-1967 (2008)
Maternal Smoking, Alcohol, and Coffee Use during Pregnancy and Son's Risk of Testicular Cancer (2009)
Maternal Smoking, Alcohol Consumption, and Caffeine Consumption during Pregnancy in Relation to a Son's Risk of Persistent Cryptorchidism: A Prospective Study in the Child Health and Development Studies Cohort, 1959-1967 (2008)
New Bone-Age Assessment Technique for Cancer Epidemiology
PI:
Jeffrey Duryea, Brigham and Women's Hospital
Description:
This project developed computer-assisted bone age scoring of wrist radiographs in collaboration with Harvard Medical School to facilitate studies of the relation of early life factors to cancer.
Funding Source:
Prenatal Organochlorines, Thyroid, and Development
PI:
Pam Factor-Litvak, Columbia University
Description:
Assesses whether exposure to endocrine disrupting compounds during pregnancy is associated with a) adverse development (cognitive function, height, weight, weight for height, and for females, age at menarche) in the offspring at birth, early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence, b) mild deficiencies in maternal thyroid function, and c) whether adverse developmental findings, if any, are attributed in part to deficiencies in exposure to maternal thyroid hormone in utero.
Funding Source:
Can Placenta Factors Explain Race Patterns of Breast Cancer?
PI:
Barbara Cohn, CHDS
Description:
Higher birth weights have been reported to increase breast cancer risk, and birth weights of mothers and daughters are highly correlated. However, race/ethnicity patterns for birth weight (lowest for African Americans and Asians, higher for Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites) do not match patterns of breast cancer in California (lowest in Asians and Hispanics). A key to progress in breast cancer prevention will lie in reconciling critical paradoxes like this one. This grant examines whether race differences in placental characteristics shed light on this paradox.
Funding Source:
Findings:
Pregnancy Hormones, Environment, Genes and Offspring Health
PI:
Barbara Cohn, CHDS
Description:
This planning grant tests the feasibility of creating a genetic library for the CHDS that can be used to understand how genes interact with environment to influence health of parents and offspring. It includes intensive examination of the ethics of genetic studies in long-term studies
Funding Source:
Prostate Cancer: Prospective Serum Markers in Blacks and Whites
PI:
Barbara Cohn, CHDS
Description:
Examines the possible relationship of genetics and serum levels of androgens and growth factors to the risk of prostate cancer in African-American and Caucasian men
Funding Source:
California Cancer Research Program
Findings:
Sex steroid hormones in young manhood and the risk of subsequent prostate cancer: a longitudinal study in African-Americans and Caucasians (2006)
Prostate specific antigen levels in young adulthood predict prostate cancer risk: results from a cohort of Black and White Americans (2005)
Prostate specific antigen levels in young adulthood predict prostate cancer risk: results from a cohort of Black and White Americans (2005)
The Epidemiology of Growth Factors and Immune Function in Pregnancy: Relation to Maternal Breast Cancer
PI:
Barbara Cohn, CHDS
Description:
Investigates the relation between prospectively obtained measures of serum markers of placental function in pregnancy and breast cancer
Funding Source:
Findings:
Prenatal Exposure to Organochlorines and Fecundability
PI:
Barbara Cohn, CHDS
Description:
A prospective study to investigate the relation between prenatal exposure to environmental chemicals and fecundability (time to pregnancy) in adult CHDS daughters
Funding Source:
Findings:
Breast Cancer and Organochlorines
PI:
Barbara Cohn, CHDS
Description:
Considers timing of exposure in a prospective epidemiological study of the relationship between DDT exposure and breast cancer.
Funding Source:
Findings:
Prenatal Organochlorine Exposure and Human Reproduction
PI:
Barbara Cohn, CHDS
Description:
Pilot study to collect semen samples from CHDS sons as preparation for a proposal to fund an examination of the relationship between prenatal exposure to organochlorines and semen quality.
Funding Source:
Findings:
Immune Markers in Pregnancy and Breast Cancer
PI:
Barbara Cohn, CHDS
Description:
Examines clinically observed indicators of placental function as prospective predictors of maternal breast cancer
Funding Source:
Findings:
