- Mission [1]
- The National Children’s Study Federal Advisory Committee (NCSAC) now meets quarterly rather than biannually to provide timely,
strategic advice on the NCS Study Design. The National Children’s Study Federal Advisory Committee (NCSAC) meets quarterly
to provide timely, strategic advice on the NCS Study Design. The first meeting of fiscal year 2011 was held on October 14,
2010. The NCSAC Program Office provided an update on recruitment data. NCSAC members made recommendations on receiving more
detailed recruitment and retention data for future meetings. The Committee heard comments from NIEHS Director Linda Birnbaum
and CDC representative Mary Ellen Mortensen. In addition, four field contractors presented tools and solutions for data capture.
Committee members made recommendations on storing samples for short term needs versus long-term storage for future analyses.
Final recommendation on this topic stated that samples should be stored with a maximum granularity, allowing categorization
into groups for long-term storage. There remained some concern among Committee members about the lag time between the Vanguard
Study activities and the planned launch of the Main Study.The NCSAC met on January 26, 2011 to provide recommendation on the
issue of compensating providers, as well as sharing educational materials with potential participants and communities. Presentations
by field contractors supplemented these two discussions. The Committee summarized the discussion by saying the provider-based
recruitment model could be a successful augmentation to the household enumeration and screening approach. The NCSAC suggested
provider compensation is an essential element of provider-based recruitment, but compensation does not necessarily need to
be monetary. The NCS Program Office provided an update on recruitment data, and the Working Group on Legacy Vanguard Data,
formed as a result of the October 14, 2010 meeting discussion, presented their result of discussions with the Program Office
on presentation of recruitment data. The NCSAC suggested the reasons for participants’ refusals, withdrawals and loss of eligibility
due to change in pregnancy status and moving should be further explored.The next meeting of FY2011 was held on April 19, 2011.
Three Principal Investigators presented their experiences in the Alternate Recruitment Substudy of the Vanguard Study. The
NCSAC commented that harmonized terminology is essential to effective Study communication, and that implementation of the
alternate recruitment strategies has facilitated collaborative learning among the Study Centers. Presentations were also given
on alternate models for secondary sampling units. Concerns raised included selection issues in the proposed provider-based
sampling frame, lack of understanding of field staff issues in the household-based recruitment strategy, and the potential
for declining birth rates to affect recruitment numbers over the long-term. The Committee last convened on July 20, 2011 to
hear from two Investigators on the provider based sampling strategy, and to review the Main Study protocol concept document.
The Committee summarized that establishing evaluation criteria, including cost, representativeness, logistics/feasibility,
and potential yield of follow-up are key to assessing the Vanguard Study. The Committee discussed the possibility of utilizing
different recruitment and sampling approaches at different Study locations. After discussing the protocol concept document
the Committee summarized: the need to further understand the implications of using different approaches at different Study
locations, the need to understand whether provider-based approach will be geographically based, and if not, the effect on
geographic data, and the need to scientifically justify the increased sample size. The Working Group on Legacy Vanguard Data
made its fourth and final presentation. The NCSAC agreed the improved format for presentation of recruitment and retention
data will better allow the NCSAC to understand and assess current and historic data. The comments and suggestions provided
by the NCSAC on all of the above listed topics have proved invaluable in assisting Program Office Scientists to carry out
the Vanguard Study and to plan for the Main Study.
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