# SOLAir: Environmental Factors and Diabetes Development in Latinos

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 2020 · $825,134

## Abstract

Project Summary
Diabetes mellitus is a major health problem; nearly half of adults in the U.S. have either diabetes or pre-
diabetes. The link between adiposity and the development of Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is well characterized,
but less is known about the impact of environmental factors on risk of T2DM. Research increasingly implicates
traffic-related air pollutants (TRAP) with increased risk of T2DM—especially in vulnerable urban populations,
but studies thus far have wide ranges of results or have substantial methodological limitations. Other
community-scale environmental factors, including aspects of the built and natural environment are also
potential risk or protective factors for T2DM and may act through interactions with physical activity, diet and
visceral adiposity. This study will incorporate state-of-the-art environmental exposure assessment with detailed
health measures and data on potential confounders, including genetic susceptibility, to study these
relationships---in a comprehensive framework—focusing on a fast-growing population at disproportionate risk
of T2DM risk, through the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL) cohort. HCHS/SOL
provides a longitudinal assessment of glycemic control along with a broad range of clinical, anthropometric,
and psychosocial factors, and begin a third comprehensive clinical exam in early 2020. This proposal adds a
multi-dimensional environmental assessment to the HCHS/SOL cohort, effectively leveraging the planned
examination and other funded ancillary studies. Through air pollution monitoring and modeling, accelerometry
data, GPS logging, genetic cluster analysis, and advanced geostatistical approaches, the proposal takes
advantage of extraordinary set of available resources to measure physical activity (amount and location),
individual TRAP exposure, built environment features, genetic susceptibility, and health measures
concurrently. The objective of “SOLAir” is a series of hypothesis-driven, policy-relevant analyses, to
understand the environmental influences on T2DM, applying a theoretical framework that includes the interplay
between environmental factors and physical activity.
This proposal will address the following aims: 1) to assess whether long-term exposures to traffic-related air
pollutants (TRAP) increase risk of pre-diabetes and T2DM among Latinos; 2) to determine how environmental
factors interact with physical activity to influence T2DM risk; and 3) to examine whether environmental factors
contribute differently to sub-types of T2DM identified by genetic clusters, phenotypic characteristics, and
metabolomic features.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10070724
- **Project number:** 1R01ES030994-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Joel Daniel Kaufman
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $825,134
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-09-22 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10070724

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10070724, SOLAir: Environmental Factors and Diabetes Development in Latinos (1R01ES030994-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10070724. Licensed CC0.

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