The overall objective ofthe community-based participatory research (CBPR) Asthma Project of the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) is to identify risks of childhood asthma from prenatal and postnatal exposure to urban pollutants (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons [PAH], environmental tobacco smoke [ETS]) and allergens. The project is an integral part of the CCCEH prospective Mother and Child Cohort Study. Our work to date establishes that the birth cohort we are studying is exposed to many environmental pollutants and appears at high risk for asthma. The goal of the proposed research is to characterize the roles played by environmental exposure to the development of atopy (allergy), persistent wheezing, asthma, and/or increased asthma morbidity. Another goal is to determine interactions between environmental exposures and susceptibility factors, before birth and through age 5-7 years, to the development ofatopy and adverse respiratory outcomes. The CBPR asthma project also will address the importance of the timing of exposure (prenatal vs. postnatal) and combined exposures to environmental agents. It will elucidate the time course of asthma development, including the predictive value of early biomarkers, and will work with the Center's Community Outreach, Translation and Application Core (COTAC) to translate asthma etiologic research to prevention of asthma risk.
The specific aims are to:
Aim 1 : Determine the relationship between environmental exposures experienced prenatally through early childhood and atopy, adverse respiratory outcomes and asthma at age 5-7 years.
Aim 2 : Determine the interaction between susceptibility factors (genetic predisposition, nutritional status, social stress/adversity) and environmental exposures on respiratory outcomes and asthma through age 5-7 years.
Aim 3 : Determine whether (a) antigen-induced cord blood mononuclear cell (CBMC) proliferation or cytokine production increases the risk for decreased lung function or atopy at age 5 years among children with physician diagnosis of probable asthma at age 2 years, (b) allergen-specific IgE levels at age 2, 3 years are associated with decreased lung function or atopy age 5 years.
Aim 4 : Collaborate with the COTAC to ensure that asthma risk factors of concem to the community are being addressed, translate research findings back to the community, and assist in developing interventions and policies to prevent exposures that contribute to asthma and adverse respiratory health in New York City and elsewhere.
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