Bild på barns ben i regn och på en äng och en blond flicka som pussar en. mage

SELMA-studien

SELMA står för Swedish Environmental Longitudinal Mother and Child Asthma and allergy study. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur miljöexponering tidigt i livet påverkar barns hälsa och utveckling. Främst studeras exponering för hormonstörande ämnen under graviditeten. Förutom astma och allergi undersöks faktorer som påverkar metabolism, tillväxt, psykisk ohälsa och reproduktiv utveckling.

The SELMA study is being conducted at Karlstad University in collaboration with Region Värmland and a number of national and international research groups in the field of environment and health. The study follows more than 2,000 mother-child pairs from early pregnancy (week 10), through childbirth and up to the school age of the child. The overall aim of the study is to investigate whether exposure to endocrine disruptors during pregnancy can affect the health development of the child.

In the first phase of the SELMA study, which started in 2007, more than 2,000 pregnant women were recruited in the maternity services in Värmland. The project team saved blood and urine from women and children and then analysed these samples for the content of some 20 endocrine disruptors. The families also answered several questionnaires that shed light on the health of the child and the family, lifestyles, the design of the home, tobacco use, eating habits, etc.