How early-life air pollution and stress shape children's brains and obesity risk
Stress-Air Pollution Interactions and Adolescent Neurobehavior
This project looks at whether exposure to air pollution and stress around birth changes children's brain-related behaviors and raises the chance of obesity in adolescence.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (New York, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11392611 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If you join, researchers will use information about where you lived during pregnancy and early childhood plus questionnaires about stress to estimate exposure to air pollution and psychological stress. They will follow children through childhood into adolescence, tracking growth and measuring behaviors like inhibitory control and mood with tests and questionnaires. The team may also use medical records and biological samples when available to link exposures to brain development and later weight gain. By combining environmental data with behavioral measures over time, they aim to pinpoint when and how early exposures lead to higher teen obesity risk.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal participants include pregnant people, infants, or young children (and their families) who can provide prenatal and early-life exposure information and be followed into adolescence.
Not a fit: People whose weight issues began well after adolescence or who cannot provide prenatal/early-life exposure information are less likely to benefit directly from this project.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could point to when and how reducing pollution or stress around pregnancy and early childhood might prevent some cases of adolescent obesity.
How similar studies have performed: Previous research links air pollution and maternal stress to child brain differences and obesity, but most studies were cross-sectional or adult-focused, so this long-term perinatal-to-adolescence approach is relatively novel.
Where this research is happening
New York, United States
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai — New York, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Wright, Robert O — Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
- Study coordinator: Wright, Robert O
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.