How long-term environmental exposures affect asthma risk

Multiple long-term environmental exposures and incidence of asthma

NIH-funded research Brigham and Women's Hospital · NIH-11323868

This project explores how long-term exposure to several environmental factors might raise the chance of developing asthma in people of different ages.

Quick facts

Grant typeR01 grant
Study typeNIH-funded research
Funding institutionBrigham and Women's Hospital NIH-funded
Lab location1 site (Boston, United States)
Project IDNIH-11323868 on NIH RePORTER

What this research studies

This project follows people from large U.S. cohorts (the Nurses’ Health Studies, Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, and Growing Up Today Study) and links their health information to long-term environmental data. Researchers will use participants' residential histories and public exposure maps for air pollution and other environmental factors to estimate decades of exposure. They will examine how combinations of exposures at different life stages relate to new cases of asthma using advanced statistical methods to separate multiple effects. If you are in one of these cohorts, you would contribute by answering questionnaires and allowing researchers to use your address and health records rather than trying new medications.

Who could benefit from this research

Good fit: Ideal candidates are U.S. residents enrolled (or eligible) in these long-term cohorts—typically adolescents through adults—who can share residential history and health information and do not already have asthma.

Not a fit: People seeking new asthma treatments or those with severe, long-standing asthma are unlikely to get direct clinical benefit from participation.

Why it matters

Potential benefit: If successful, this work could point to which environmental combinations increase asthma risk and guide prevention efforts and policy to reduce those exposures.

How similar studies have performed: Prior studies have linked air pollution and some other single exposures to asthma, but combining multiple long-term exposures across decades is a newer and less-tested approach.

Where this research is happening

Boston, United States

Researchers

About this research

  1. This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
  2. Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
  3. For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.
Last reviewed 2026-06-09 by the Find a Trial editorial team. Information on this page is for educational purposes and is not medical advice. Always consult qualified healthcare professionals about clinical trial participation.