Childhood leukemia & environmental exposures
The Northern California Childhood Leukemia Study is a large, multi-institutional and multidisciplinary, collaborative, epidemiologic study of childhood leukemia under the direction of Dr. Patricia Buffler at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), and in collaboration with a team of investigators from the University of California San Francisco, the California Department of Health Services, the Northern California Cancer Center (NCCC), the National Cancer Institute and 11 northern California hospitals. The primary objective of this case-control study is to investigate the relationship between environmental exposures and the risk of childhood leukemia, utilizing molecular biology techniques to characterize the presence of genetic changes, as well as considering possible effect modifiers. All newly diagnosed cases of childhood leukemia (ages 0-14) present at one of the eleven major referral hospitals in Northern and Central California between 1995-2009 are invited to participate in the study. Two matched controls are obtained for each case from California birth registry records, matched on date of birth, sex, and race/ethnicity. Risk factor information is being collected via several mechanisms including in person interviews, household exposure assessments, biologic and environmental sampling, and use of geographic information system generated attributes of the residential environment.
The NCCC serves as a subcontractor to UCB, under the direction of Dr. Peggy Reynolds. Along with participating in study design and analysis, the NCCC provides identification of cases and controls from the Vital Statistics Branch computerized birth files and linkage of cases and controls to the Genetic Disease Branch newborn blood heel-stick files.
Principal Investigator: Patricia Buffler, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Co-Investigators: Peggy Reynolds, Ph.D., Rudy Rull, Ph.D.
Funding: Subcontract drawn from National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and University of California at Berkeley
Publication:
Colt JS, Gunier RB, Metayer C, Nishioka MG, Bell EM, Reynolds P, Buffler PA, Ward MH. Household vacuum cleaners vs. the high-volume surface sampler for collection of carpet dust samples in epidemiologic studies of children. Environ Health 2008; Feb 21;7:6.
|
