Grantee Research Project Results

2024 Progress Report: Connecting Early Life Chemical Stressors and Caregiving Environment to Neurodevelopmental Outcomes for Children Attending Licensed Child Care Centers

EPA Grant Number: R840221
Title: Connecting Early Life Chemical Stressors and Caregiving Environment to Neurodevelopmental Outcomes for Children Attending Licensed Child Care Centers
Investigators: Redmon, Jennifer Hoponick , Levine, Keith , Willoughby, Michael , Kondash, AJ , Aceituno, Anna , Pilkington, William , Kumar, Deepak
Institution: Research Triangle Institute
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Project Period: August 1, 2021 through May 13, 2025
Project Period Covered by this Report: August 1, 2023 through July 31,2024
Project Amount: $1,899,906
RFA: Center for Early Lifestage Vulnerabilities to Environmental Stressors (2020) RFA Text |  Recipients Lists
Research Category: Children's Health , Endocrine Disruptors

Objective:

The overarching objective of this Center is to make causal linkages between cumulative environmental exposures, caregiving environments in early childhood, and changes in neurodevelopment for preschoolers. Our experimental approach is to recruit and enroll children attending licensed childcare centers into the study and complete environmental exposure analyses at both the home and childcare center, along with neurodevelopmental and caregiving environment evaluations.  

The Center is comprised of two research projects with the following objectives:  (1) to identify the occurrence, concentration, and variation of chemicals found in children’s caregiving environments at home and in childcare and evaluate how the cumulative chemical exposures are causally associated with neurodevelopmental functioning in early childhood; and  (2) to test whether nonchemical factors, specifically home caregiving environment, alter the impacts of early life chemical exposures (i.e., metals, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, and cotinine as a biomarker of tobacco exposure) on neurodevelopmental outcomes in early childhood. 

Progress Summary:

Recruitment, Outreach, and Engagement Activities: During the previous reporting period, our project team made the decision to make modifications to the study design and submitted and received approval for an IRB modification.

We made these changes with the goal of improving recruitment and enrollment outcomes. In short, these modifications included:

 (1) Shifting from a short-term prospective longitudinal study to a cross-sectional study. The longitudinal study design constrains the time period of recruitment, as well as introducing operational challenges of longitudinal tracking of families. High level objectives can be accomplished with a larger cross-sectional dataset in exchange for reduced strength of inference.  

(2) Expanding recruitment age range to include children ages 3-5. This will greatly increase sample size and improve efficiencies by limiting the quantity of centers needed.  

(3) Shifting child executive function assessments to EF Touch assessments to reflect the age range of enrolled children.  (4) Removing teacher involvement through requirement of completed teacher questionnaires, thus removing the need for an incentive distributed to teachers.  (5) Shifting the distribution of incentives to distribute $100 to centers that complete all study activities and $150 to enrolled families that complete all study activities.  

Prior to modifications we had enrolled 19 centers and 39 children in our program. Resulting from these modifications, we saw a modest increase in the enrollment of both children and centers in our study area. At the end of the FY (July 31, 2024) we’d enrolled 55 centers and 234 children in our program. Our goal for center enrollment was 300 children from up to 60 childcare centers. To date our team has called 725 centers, visited in person 495 centers, and done additional outreach. Over the next fiscal year, we are planning to expand our enrollment and recruitment to 4 new counties to achieve our final enrollment goals.  

Data Collection Activities. During this reporting period, our project team started to collect and manage data related to neurodevelopmental outcomes, psychosocial and caregiving information, and environmental exposures at the level of the child’s home and child care center. Our team has been using two connected REDCap projects to securely collect and maintain study data at the level of individual families and child care centers. We significantly expanded our team including training a total of 5 staff trained to conduct caregiver interviews, child neurodevelopmental assessment activities, and environmental sampling at child care centers. Parent/guardian questionnaires are completed independently via REDCap. At the beginning of the next reporting period, parents will receive individualized, secure links to their results that only they can access. Data are backed up daily, and ongoing maintenance and technical support are provided in-house as needed. This year, we began home sample collection for water, dust, hair, saliva, and wristband collection and center collection for water and dust. Silicone wristbands used for personal exposure monitoring were cleaned using the methods described by Anderson et al1. Sample analysis began in the middle of this reporting period and chemical results reporting will take place at the beginning of the next period.  

Future Activities:

We anticipate sending our first batch of results reports in the next reporting year and will rely on continued coordination across research project staff, the Translation Core, and the Scientific and Community Advisory Boards. 

During the subsequent reporting period, we will continue to engage in recruitment activities to enroll up to 300 eligible children in the study area. RTI’s laboratory team will continue to analyze biospecimens Page 5 of 6 and environmental sample media in accordance with the analytical methods described in the QAPP. We will create results report back forms and securely disseminate results and recommendations to participating families and child care centers. We will also develop webinars and publish website updates to support sharing initial research findings and community engagement.  

Progress and Final Reports:

Original Abstract

2022 Progress Report

2023 Progress Report

Final