The Salton Sea and Children's Health: Assessing Imperial Valley Respiratory Health and the Environment

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SUMMARY Asthma remains one of the most common chronic diseases in children.1 Asthma is a multifactorial disease, whose development may be influenced by housing characteristics, indoor allergens, and environmental pollutants.2,3 The low income, primarily Mexican-American community of Imperial Valley is situated in rural southeastern California, where 1 in 5 children struggle with asthma.4 Furthermore, it has one of the highest rates of emergency visits and hospitalizations for asthma in CA,5 although the reasons for these elevated rates have not yet been assessed. Through the Assessing Imperial Valley Respiratory Health and the Environment (AIRE) study (1R01ES029598),6 a diverse team of investigators is leveraging a community-engaged approach to examine the role of air pollution on children's respiratory health in a prospective cohort of predominantly Hispanic elementary school children. Through AIRE's work in the community, pesticides have been identified by residents as another key environmental health concern. Pesticide exposures may influence respiratory health, but data in young children are scarce.7–13 This agricultural community of Imperial Valley supplies 66% of the winter vegetables consumed in the United States and is one of the highest pesticide use areas in CA.14 Five million pounds of agricultural pesticides were applied in Imperial Valley in 2017. Schools and homes are located in close proximity to agricultural fields and thus non-occupational residential pesticide exposures are of great concern. While reduced lung capacity and increased asthma and respiratory symptoms have been reported in agricultural workers,21–26 there remains a gap in our understanding of the association between children living near pesticide applications and asthma. Pesticide drift is of particular concern for rural communities,15 and studies conducted in communities living near agricultural fields sprayed with pesticides have found extensive contamination in the air, in homes, and in urine from children in these communities,16–19 which may increase the risk of developing pediatric asthma.10,20 Additionally, multiple pesticides are often used in combination and there is a paucity of research regarding pesticide mixture exposures among children and respiratory health outcomes. This proposed diversity supplement will leverage data collected from the Children's AIRE cohort. This cohort has enrolled 550 elementary school-aged children and has extensive longitudinal data on lung function and respiratory health symptoms. The completion of this study will expand on our understanding of how pesticides impact respiratory health in children. Our study will be the among the first to examine the relationship between exposure to childhood pesticide mixtures and longitudinal respiratory health outcomes. The training will position the Candidate to launch an independent career focusing on the relationship between environmental exposures and health outcomes with a special focus on environmental justice communities.