MOSES LAKE - Grant County is on the forefront of an extensive children's health study.

The county was one of 30 sites in the U.S. to participate in the pilot phase of the federally-funded National Children's Study, the largest long-term study of children's health ever conducted in the United States.

More than 150 current and prospective parents in Grant County have enrolled in the pilot phase of the study. Since December 2010, the study's field office in Grant County has recruited eligible women between 18 and 49 to participate.

The pilot phase of the study evaluated various recruitment strategies to be employed in the main study, which will eventually follow more than 100,000 families nationwide.

The study's Grant County field office sent representatives door-to-door to enroll eligible women in the study, a technique called "household-based recruitment," said Jennifer Lane, study manager.

Other study sites used two other recruitment models: the provider-based model, in which women were contacted about the study through their health care provider, and the high-low model, in which information on the study, with the field office's contact information, was distributed throughout a county so that eligible women would contact them to enroll.

"Considering the information at the national level that they shared with us, I would actually say that the model that Grant County used ... demonstrated  some very strong numbers," said Lane.

Active recruitment ended in December and information from the pilot phase will be examined to help develop recruitment strategies for the main study, which is expected to start in 2012, said Lane. Families enrolled in the pilot phase of the study will continue to be monitored as part of the study until age 21.

Researchers will watch the children to learn how family health history and where children live, learn and play affect their health and development. The researchers will track air, water, diet, noise, family dynamics, community and cultural influences.

Health care professionals, doctors and researchers across the nation will use findings from the research to understand how the environment affects children's growth and development.

While active recruitment in Grant County has ended, families interested in participating are still encouraged to contact the Grant County Field Office at 1-855-733-8378, said Lane.

The study is funded by the National Institutes of Health. It is coordinated  by the Pacific Northwest Center for the National Children's Study (PNWNCS) at the University of Washington. The PNWNCS partners with Washington State University, the Grant County Health District, and the Moses Lake and Quincy Community Health centers and local communities in Grant County.

"It's so very, very exciting ... to be able to gather data across the nation to begin to look at what contributes to some of the diseases that face children. It's just absolutely fantastic, and I'm so excited for Grant County that we are actually part of such an innovative concept," said Lane.