PI, Institution:
Edwin Van Wijngaarden, University of Rochester

Grant: R24ES029466

Description:
The Seychelles Child Development and Nutrition Study (SCDNS), which began in the mid-1980s, includes several large cohorts of children whose mothers consumed fish frequently during their pregnancy. The objective is to determine if prenatal methylmercury exposure from fish consumption has adverse effects on the children’s neurodevelopment. The main cohort was recruited in 1989 and is comprised of 779 children. A subsequent Nutrition cohort (NC1) of 300 mothers was enrolled in 2001 during their first trimester of pregnancy. Most recently, a second Nutrition cohort (NC2) of 1,535 mother-child pairs was enrolled between 2008 and 2011. For more information about this cohort, visit the NIEHS Epidemiology Resources webpage for SCDNS.

Cohort Maintenance & Enrichment Activities:
Enriching the biorepository and outcomes database of NC2 for future studies of underlying mechanisms of MeHg toxicity. Re-examining participants at age 13 and collecting information on sociodemographic determinants, health behaviors, and fish consumption. Obtaining hair and blood samples for future studies focusing on mechanisms of MeHg metabolism and toxicity. Expanding outcomes database by collecting data on medical history, sociodemographic factors, anthropometrics measure, health behaviors, and fish consumption, as well as linking study records with school examination records. Enriching the biorepository and outcome database of Main cohort and their mothers to establish baseline data for novel prospective studies of MeHg toxicity across the life course. main cohort (approximately 30 years) participants and their mothers (approximately 55 years) will be re-enrolled with hair and blood samples collected and data on health behaviors, sociodemographic determinants of health, and fish consumption will be updated.

Data Management & Sharing Activities:
Facilitating data access and sharing through improved data harmonization and discovery. Developing an online Data Access Request and Visualization Application that will consist of a standardized data dictionary across all SCDS cohorts and allow users to search for available data across cohorts through the visualization of descriptive statistics.

Data Access:
The data that support the findings of this study will be made available from the principal investigator, Edwin van Wijngaarden, upon request following review and approval of a proposal by the Seychelles Child Development Study (SCDS) review committee. If a proposed analysis plan involves primary mercury exposure variables, the analysis will need to be performed by the biostatistics unit at the University of Rochester. This approach is to assure the integrity of blinding of the exposure data.

Please see NIH RePORTER for publications associated with this R24 grant.