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Dr. Entwisle explained that, unlike Queens, which is a densely populated urban area, Duplin County is a sparsely populated rural county spread out over a large area--819 square miles. Many large hog and turkey farms are located in Duplin County, as well as the factories that process them. The area also has a large Hispanic population.

There are about 800 births per year in Duplin County, approximating only a small fraction of the more than 30,000 births that occur in Queens each year, she added.

"The children in the Duplin sample will be representative of other rural areas of the U.S.," Dr. Entwisle said.

The study location in Queens, New York, has a population of 2.23 million and is home to thousands of immigrants from more than 100 nations, said Dr. Philip Landrigan, Principal Investigator, Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

Like many urban counties in the United States, Dr. Landrigan added, Queens is disproportionately affected by many conditions for which the National Children's Study will help find environmental predecessors and information on the causes. For example, he said, in some parts of New York City, 1 in 4 children have asthma. In addition, one fifth of the city's children entering kindergarten are overweight.

The NICHD sponsors research on development, before and after birth; maternal, child, and family health; reproductive biology and population issues; and medical rehabilitation. For more information, visit the Institute's Web site at http://www.nichd.nih.gov/.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) -- The Nation's Medical Research Agency -- includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component
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