Prenatal Air Pollution Exposures and Early Childhood Outcomes

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This study investigates impacts of air pollution exposure on birth outcomes and early child development outcomes, with attention to gender and socioeconomic disparities in risk as well as potential exacerbating or compensating impacts of family resources and processes. The prenatal and early childhood periods are extremely vulnerable phases of life, but the implications of early, high levels of air pollution for children's development, and how they are affected by social and economic context, are poorly understood. Data come from birth certificates, hospital records, and a prospective birth cohort survey in a high air pollution context. Findings will offer insights into the rising global public health challenges associated with air pollution exposures among infants and children. Further, findings regarding the differential risks and impacts of exposure across gender and socioeconomic groups, and about effectiveness of avoidance behaviors and compensatory investments, can inform policymakers and clinicians about the design and targeting of interventions and thereby contribute to the general well-being of society. This study investigates risks associated with prenatal air pollution exposure for birth outcomes and multiple early child development dimensions, including physical, cognitive, language, self-regulation, and social and emotional domains, in a region with high but spatially variable air pollution levels. The project has four objectives: 1: Produce three complementary datasets on air pollution and birth and early childhood outcomes. 2: Estimate associations between air pollution exposures and birth outcomes. 3: Investigate potential differences in vulnerability to and impact of environmental exposure by gender and socioeconomic status using birth certificate data and sample survey data. 4: Estimate impacts of air quality on children's early human capital development within a larger framework of parental investments in children and avoidance behaviors, using sample survey data. The project links a) administrative data from birth certificate databases and hospital records, b) pollution exposure estimates derived from data-fusion methods combining monitoring observations, remotely-sensed satellite imagery, land-use variables, and meteorology, and c) a prospective sample survey of early health and development outcomes. Analyses estimate impacts of air quality on children?s human capital within a larger framework of parental investments in children. The study considers cumulative risks, nonlinearities, and threshold effects of air pollution exposures, and models interactions with other risk and protective factors with a focus on sociological factors related to child gender and socioeconomic status and parenting styles.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.