The University of Miami Medical School will be one of the primary research centers for a 25-year nationwide, pioneering study of children's health, following potential mothers from before they're pregnant to when their children reach 21.

The $3.4 billion National Children's Study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, will track 4,000 children in four Florida counties -- including Miami-Dade -- and 100,000 nationwide. It will focus on 20 key children's health issues, including autism, birth defects, heart disease, attention-deficit disorders and obesity.

''We believe it will be the largest study of pregnant women ever conducted -- certainly in the United States,'' said Dr. Peter Scheidt, director of the national study for the NIH. The NIH will create a national databank of health information on children.

''We won't have to wait 21 years to benefit,'' said Dr. Duane Alexander, director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. ``We will release information at each step in the growth process, from pre-conception to 21.''

`THE WHOLE COUNTRY'

Dr. Steven Lipshultz, chairman of pediatrics at UM medical school and Florida principal investigator for the study, says the research will be more significant than the Framingham Heart Study, which has followed a Massachusetts town since 1948 and is seen as the basis for much of what is known about heart disease.

''That was just one Massachusetts town,'' he said. ``This will cover the whole country.''

Lipshultz estimates the study eventually will create up to 400 medical health jobs in Florida and $400 million of medical spending in Miami-Dade County. UM initially will receive $54.6 million from the NIH to lead the Florida portion of the project. UM will pay participants a range of fees, as yet undetermined.

Miami-Dade, Hillsborough, Orange and Baker are the counties in Florida that will participate in the study -- there are 105 counties nationwide.

Lipshultz said he hopes the program can help lift Florida from its ranking of 50th out of 50 states and the District of Columbia in 13 child-health categories according to a May study by the Commonwealth Fund, a private group that studies healthcare issues.

Starting in 2010, if pilot efforts go well, UM researchers will recruit 4,000 families in the four counties.

''We will literally knock on 17,000 doors to get 1,000 children in Miami-Dade,'' says Dr. Tracie Miller, associate chair of pediatrics at the UM med school and co-principal investigator of the study.

WATER SAMPLING

Other universities involved are Johns Hopkins University, Baylor College of Medicine, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, Tulane, the University of California at Los Angeles and Vanderbilt.

The studies will follow women from before they conceive, sampling the water they drink, the air they breathe, the schools, shops and workplaces in which they spend time.

Doctors, nurses and medical researchers will look into genetics and environmental factors; psychologists will trace brain development factors that might cause dyslexia, learning disorders, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Some of the key areas to be studied:

• Birth defects: Birth defects affect one in every 33 babies born in the United States each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They include heart defects, brain defects and spinal problems such as spina bifida. Birth defects account for more than 20 percent of infant deaths.

• Obesity: Studies by the Florida Governor's Task Force on Obesity say 10 percent of Florida high school students and 11.5 percent of middle school students are overweight. They say 57.4 percent of Florida adults were overweight or obese, a 63 percent increase since 1986. Early blame was placed on lack of physical activity and poor eating habits.

• Heart disease: Reports by the Florida Department of Health say 39.7 percent of Florida residents said they had high cholesterol in 2005, up from 31 percent in 2001. The report said 26.9 percent engaged in no regular physical activity. And two-thirds of middle school students watched TV or sat at a computer screen for more than three hours a day.

• Autism: The CDC estimates that one in 150 8-year-old U.S. children has an autism spectrum disorder, making up about 560,000 individuals from birth to 21. The number is up from previous decades, possibly because a broader definition of ASD. Some parents believe, despite disagreement from many doctors, that autism might be associated with childhood vaccinations.

The CDC says it does not believe there is a connection.

Says Lipshultz: ``There's no substitute for data.''

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