Statistical Services and Methods Development Resource

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PROJECT SUMMARY Research in children's environmental health demonstrates that consequence of environmental exposures during critical periods in development can manifest as disease or dysfunction across the human life span. Children are one of the most vulnerable subpopulations for increased adverse health risks from factors including exposures to environmental contaminants, poor nutrition, and stress because their major organ systems are developing from conception through adolescence. These factors are multi-dimensional and complex – not simple, single exposures related to a single health outcome. Statistical methods and study designs for analyzing the complex, high-dimensional data that arise in such settings are still relatively new and require knowledge of advanced statistical techniques. The Statistical Services and Methods Development Resource (SSMDR) consolidates multi-disciplinary expertise (statistics, epidemiology, bioinformatics) in a single faculty made available for collaboration with the broader children's environmental health research community through the Data Center. The aims of the SSMDC are in four primary categories: service, collaborative research across the Children's Environmental Health Research consortium, methods development, and education/training on biostatistical techniques relevant to the Children's Health Exposure Analysis Resource (CHEAR) Data Center. Our specific aims are: 1) provide an integrated approach for statistical, epidemiological, and bioinformatics service to investigators collaborating with the Data Center; 2) support collaborative research across the Children's Environmental Health Research consortium; 3) conduct novel and innovative biostatistical and bioinformatic methods development in relevant areas to the CHEAR and the Data Center; and 4) provide statistical training for children's environmental health researchers by creating publicly available statistical software for analysis of the CHEAR data and developing publicly utilizable training/example datasets to be used for didactic learning through webinars related to children's environmental health. The achievement of these aims will advance the goals of the CHEAR Data Center and the larger CHEAR Network to maximize our understanding of the potential impact of environmental exposures on children's health by providing rigorous and innovative biostatistical/bioinformatics methods for analyzing children's environmental health data.