(UH3) The Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes in Puerto Rico (ECHO?PRO) project leverages an active birth cohort in Puerto Rico (PROTECT cohort) that has initiated child follow?up (CRECE cohort) to better understand environmental exposures and their effects on birth outcomes and children's health in Puerto Rico ? an underserved, highly exposed population. ?Puerto Rico Testsite for Exploring Contamination Threats (PROTECT)? is an NIEHS Superfund Research Program (SRP) cohort that started recruiting in 2011 and will continue through 2019 (P42ES017198). PROTECT tests the hypothesis that exposure to phthalates and chlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOCs) contributes to the unusually high rate of preterm birth (<37 weeks gestation) in Puerto Rico. The ?Center for Research on Early Childhood Exposure and Development in Puerto Rico (CRECE),? a Children's Environmental Health Center (CEHC), awarded jointly by NIEHS and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2015 (P50ES026049), follows up on children born in the PROTECT cohort. CRECE is studying the impact of exposures to particulate matter and phenols and modifying factors on physical, reproductive and neurodevelopment among children in northern Puerto Rico. ECHO?PRO will leverage the PROTECT/CRECE cohort (570 children at birth) and infrastructure, and recruit an additional 1100 pregnant women (100 in the UG3 and 1000 in the UH3) and their children (estimated N=990 at birth) collecting ECHO?Wide approved elements for follow?up assessments, repeated information on their environmental exposures, biomarkers of intermediate effect, and respiratory, physical, reproductive, and brain development.
Exposure to multiple chemicals in the environment during critical fetal and early childhood development periods is an important yet understudied area of public health. In collaboration with the larger ECHO Consortium, ECHO-PRO will contribute data, biological samples, and knowledge that allow us to better understand how these environmental exposures affect child health outcomes in Puerto Rico and the U.S. mainland. Results from our study will inform future clinical intervention, risk assessment and policy-setting efforts, with direct relevance to both the underserved population of Puerto Rico and the U.S. general population. Project Narrative Page 8
| Ashrap, Pahriya; Watkins, Deborah J; Calafat, Antonia M et al. (2018) Elevated concentrations of urinary triclocarban, phenol and paraben among pregnant women in Northern Puerto Rico: Predictors and trends. Environ Int 121:990-1002 |
| Aker, Amira M; Ferguson, Kelly K; Rosario, Zaira Y et al. (2018) The associations between prenatal exposure to triclocarban, phenols and parabens with gestational age and birth weight in northern Puerto Rico. Environ Res 169:41-51 |
