Child Lung Development Following a Cookstove Intervention: Evidence from GRAPHS

项目摘要 在全球和非洲，接触烹饪用火产生的烟雾是导致残疾和死亡的五大原因之一 特别是。我们提出的研究评估了这些暴露对肺发育的影响。到目前为止， 大多数关于家庭空气污染（HAP）的大规模研究都集中在儿童肺炎上。我们 然而，初步数据显示，一个月大时的肺功能与子宫内HAP暴露相关。 这些结果得到了大量文献的证实，这些文献将环境空气污染暴露与类似的 结果。生命早期肺功能下降会增加COPD和其他慢性呼吸道疾病的风险 疾病我们建议建立在加纳现有的出生队列-加纳随机空气污染和 健康研究，或GRAPHS -评估生命早期暴露如何影响3岁和6岁的肺功能。我们将使用 完善、有效的方法来评估这些结果，并将衡量空气污染暴露 在每个年龄段。为了深入了解HAP暴露与健康之间的分子机制，我们将 还研究了暴露如何影响胎盘中的RNA表达，以及这些表观遗传变化如何与 肺功能轨迹。从长远来看，我们的研究将有助于建立成本效益的证据基础 通过减少HAP暴露来改善健康的干预措施。

Project summary Exposure to smoke from cooking fires is among the top five causes of DALYs and death globally, and in Africa in particular. Our proposed study evaluates the impact of these exposures on lung development. To date, most large-scale research on household air pollution (HAP) has focused on childhood pneumonia. Our preliminary data shows, however, that lung function at age one month correlates with HAP exposures in utero. These results are corroborated by a substantial literature that links ambient air pollution exposures to similar outcomes. Decrements in lung function early in life increase risk of COPD and other chronic respiratory diseases. We propose to build on an existing birth cohort in Ghana – the Ghana Randomized Air Pollution and Health Study, or GRAPHS – to assess how early life exposures affect lung function ages 3 and 6. We will use well-established, validated methods to assess these outcomes, and will also measure air pollution exposures at each of these ages. To gain insight into the molecular mechanisms that link HAP exposure to health, we will also study how exposure affects RNA expression in the placenta, and how these epigenetic changes relate to lung function trajectories. In the long run, our research will help build the evidence base for cost effective interventions to improve health by reducing HAP exposure.