WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A study that will cost $3.2 billion and last more than two decades to track the health of 100,000 US children from before birth to age 21 will be launched in January, US health officials said.

The National Children's Study will examine factors behind autism, cerebral palsy, learning disabilities, birth defects, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, asthma, heart disease, obesity and other conditions, the US government's National Institutes of Health said.

NIH officials said they hope the study, to be conducted at 105 locations throughout the United States, can help pinpoint early-life influences that affect later development, with the goal of learning new ways to treat or prevent illness.