Investigating mediated effects of near-roadway air pollution exposure on obesity and obesity-related behavior through executive cognitive function during peripuberty

 描述(申请人提供)：执行认知功能(ECF)是指促进选择性注意、自我控制和解决复杂问题等目标导向心理现象的一系列认知过程，主要局限于前额叶皮质。ECF是多种肥胖相关健康行为的重要预测因子，如高热量/低营养食物摄入量、久坐行为和体力活动，并已多次与儿童肥胖结局联系在一起。来自不同寿命的独立证据越来越多地表明，路边空气污染(NRAP)可能既有神经毒性，又与儿童肥胖症的发展有关。尽管已经提出了多种途径来解释NRAP和儿童肥胖之间的联系，但到目前为止，很少有工作探索ECF在调节肥胖相关行为和肥胖之间的关系中可能发挥的作用。为了调查儿童接触NRAP与儿童肥胖结局和肥胖相关行为之间的纵向关系，通过ECF的中介，该提案将利用来自NIH资助的多项研究的现有资源。具体地说，我们建议使用为南加州儿童健康研究开发的CALINE4来源分散模型，将NRAP暴露于在健康路径(Path)数据集中进行纵向跟踪的大量儿童的居住和学校地址。然后将利用线性混合效应模型来检验从4年级到6年级的Path中功能性神经认知缺陷和空气污染暴露之间的纵向联系-证据表明，这构成了前额叶皮质脆弱性的关键时期。最后，将利用多层次结构方程建模方法来确定空气污染暴露与两种肥胖结果(身体质量指数百分位数和腰围)以及肥胖相关行为(例如，久坐行为、体力活动、高卡路里/低营养食物消费和水果/蔬菜消费)之间的关系在多大程度上受到ECF变化的影响，并对关键协变量进行调整，包括参与者的感知压力、吸烟史和睡眠模式。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Executive cognitive function (ECF) refers to a cluster of cognitive processes that facilitate goal-directed mental phenomena such as selective attention, self-control, and complex problem solving and is largely localized to the prefrontal cortex. ECF is an important predictor of multiple obesity-related health behaviors such as high calorie/low nutrient food intake, sedentary behavior, and physical activity, and has been repeatedly linked to childhood obesity outcomes. Independent lines of evidence from across the lifespan increasingly suggest that near-roadway air pollution (NRAP) may be both neurotoxic and linked to the development of childhood obesity. Though multiple pathways have been proposed to explain the link between NRAP and childhood obesity, little work to date has explored the role ECF may play in mediating the relationship to obesity-related behaviors and obesity. To investigate longitudinal relationships between children's exposure to NRAP and both childhood obesity outcomes and obesity-related behavior, mediated by ECF, this proposal will leverage pre-existing resources from multiple NIH-funded studies. Specifically, we propose to assign NRAP exposures to residential and school addresses of a large cohort of children who have been followed longitudinally in the Pathways to Health (Pathways) dataset, using CALINE4 source dispersion models developed for the Southern California Children's Health Study. Linear mixed effects models will then be utilized to examine longitudinal associations between functional neurocognitive deficits and air pollution exposure in Pathways from 4th through 6th grade- which evidence suggests constitutes a critical period of prefrontal cortical vulnerability. Finally, a multilevel structural equation modeling approach will be utilized to determine to what degree the relationship between air pollution exposure and two obesity outcomes (body mass index percentile and waist circumference) and obesity-related behaviors (e.g. sedentary behavior, physical activity, high-calorie/low-nutrient food consumption and fruit/vegetable consumption) is mediated by ECF changes, adjusting for key covariates, including participants' perceived stress, smoking history and sleep patterns.