Grantee Research Project Results
2010 Progress Report: Effect of Multi-Level Environmental Exposure on Birth Outcomes
EPA Grant Number: R834596C001Subproject: this is subproject number 001 , established and managed by the Center Director under grant R834596
(EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
Center: Center for Integrative Research on Childhood Leukemia and the Environment - 2015
Center Director: Metayer, Catherine
Title: Effect of Multi-Level Environmental Exposure on Birth Outcomes
Investigators: Tager, Ira , Gale, Sara L , Padula, Amy
Current Investigators: Tager, Ira , Hammond, S. Katharine , Gale, Sara L , Shaw, Gary M. , Padula, Amy
Institution: University of California - Berkeley , Stanford University
EPA Project Officer: Callan, Richard
Project Period: May 7, 2010 through May 6, 2013 (Extended to May 6, 2014)
Project Period Covered by this Report: May 7, 2010 through May 6,2011
RFA: Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Centers: Formative Centers (with NIEHS) (2009) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Children's Health , Human Health
Objective:
To determine if the associations between adverse pregnancy outcomes (low birth weight, pre-term and small for gestation age) and exposure to ambient air pollutants and endotoxin are increased in women who reside in impoverished neighborhoods and are socially disadvantaged at the individual level.
Elevated air pollution levels and higher traffic density have been implicated as having adverse effects on the health of children and adults. Outcomes include reduced birth weight and gestational duration, decreased pulmonary function and coronary heart disease. Many of the outcomes are more common within communities with lower socioeconomic status (SES) and more ethnic diversity; these are the same communities that tend to have higher air pollution and traffic-density, at least in the United States. It may be a case of environmental justice with important health consequences and may invoke policy change to address such potential injustice.
Progress Summary:
In this project we are using data from the Study of Air pollution, Genetics and the Environment (SAGE), which include births in the four most populous counties of the San Joaquin Valley of California from 2000-2006. We have overlaid these data with publicly available data on land use, census characteristics, crime locations, alcohol, and cigarette outlets.
Ambient air pollution measurements and traffic metrics were assigned to the geocoded maternal residences reported on the birth certificate. Exposure assignments were made if the geocodes were within the San Joaquin Valley and accounted for at least 75% of pregnancy. The pollutants included: ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), nitrogen oxide (NO), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter less than 10 μg/m3 (PM10), and PM less than 2.5 μg/m3 (PM2.5). Daily 24-hour averages for all of the pollutants as well as a daily daytime 8-hour maximum for ozone were then averaged over each trimester and the entire pregnancy.
Preliminary analyses comparing the highest quartile versus the lowest three quartiles show that higher air pollution during pregnancy is associated with increased odds of preterm birth.
We have constructed the ½ mile neighborhood surrounding each of the maternal residences for births between 2000-2006 in Fresno County (N = 90,196). These neighborhoods include the GIS data that was previously collected (road network and traffic, alcohol and cigarette sales, wildfires, Superfund sites, grocery stores and farmers markets, schools and daycares, hospitals, water quality, crime).
To understand the complex neighborhood environment, we are using item response theory (IRT) to help characterize the variables that make up a deprived neighborhood. In IRT, several variables are used to make a scale which describes a latent variable. The latent variable is often unobserved or not quantified by one measure. In our analysis, neighborhood deprivation is the latent variable, because we do not have one variable that captures the complexity of deprivationthere are several. There are also many different IRT modeling methods, but in general, the best model is defined by the mean-squared error of prediction. The item parameters are all of the covariates, which we converted to be positive and negative (0 = negative neighborhood influence, 1 = positive neighborhood influence). For example, if there were an alcohol outlet in a study subject's neighborhood, his or her response would be 0 for that item. If there were a park in that neighborhood, the response would be 1. Scoring is based on the proportion of positive neighborhood characteristics. Item parameters are fixed, and we maximize the likelihood for our deprivation score. We used the FACES cohort (N = 315) to pilot the program of the IRT analysis. Once the index is completed on the SAGE population, it will be used as a potential effect modifier in the relationship between traffic-related air pollution and adverse birth outcomes.
Future Activities:
Our plans are to next combine the initial work performed on the creation of the neighborhood deprivation index and the analysis of air pollution and birth outcomes and determine whether the associations differ by levels of neighborhood deprivation.Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 14 publications for this subprojectSupplemental Keywords:
RFA, Health, Scientific Discipline, ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, HUMAN HEALTH, Health Effects, Biochemistry, Children's Health, Biology, Risk Assessment, asthma, air toxics, prenatal exposure, biological response, measuring childhood exposure, air pollution, assessment of exposure, childhood respiratory disease, children's vulnerablity, harmful environmental agents, developmental disordersRelevant Websites:
Children's Health & Air Pollution Study - San Joaquin Valley ExitProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractMain Center Abstract and Reports:
R834596 Center for Integrative Research on Childhood Leukemia and the Environment - 2015 Subprojects under this Center: (EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
R834596C001 Effect of Multi-Level Environmental Exposure on Birth Outcomes
R834596C002 Exposure to Air Pollutants and Risk of Birth Defects
R834596C003 Ambient Pollutant/Bioaerosol Effects on Treg Function
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.
Project Research Results
2 journal articles for this subproject
Main Center: R834596
50 publications for this center
15 journal articles for this center