# A prospective study of critical environmental exposures in formative early life that impact lifelong health in rural US children: the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study

> **NIH NIH UH3** · DARTMOUTH COLLEGE · 2021 · $5,255,245

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract: Major gaps exist in our knowledge of the health impacts of widespread and
dramatically expanding exposures among children in the US. Children from rural regions are particularly
understudied, but may experience higher exposures to contaminants by drinking unregulated water; from
household air pollution from wood stoves; and consequent to their rural and changing landscape (e.g., from
climate change). As part of this ECHO Pediatric Cohorts application, we propose to take advantage of the
NIEHS/EPA supported New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study (NHBCS): a rural, ongoing pregnancy cohort that
has accrued over 1,500 maternal-infant dyads. By the beginning of the UH3 phase of this application, the
anticipated cohort size will be 2,000, and as part of this ECHO Pediatric Cohorts application, accrual will be
extended to 3,000 maternal-infant pairs. Clinical outcomes are being ascertained from interval interviews,
questionnaires, medical records, in-person assessments and laboratory tests. The study has archived
environmental (tap water and indoor air) and biological samples collected during pregnancy (maternal blood,
urine and hair), as well as biological samples acquired at birth (infant cord blood, placenta and meconium) and
during childhood (urine, blood, buccal cells, breast milk, toenails and stool). With support of a state-of-the-art
biorepository, the ability to utilize these samples for a wide range of downstream analyses has been
demonstrated, e.g., for DNA methylation arrays, gene expression, microbiome sequencing, metabolomics and
flow cytometry. For the current application, emerging hypotheses of concern will be addressed by: (1)
leveraging the extant NHBCS to perform targeted and unsupervised metabolomic analyses of 1,000 cord blood
samples and 250 paired maternal gestational blood samples, and assess associations with exposures, early
growth, and the infant microbiome; (2) expanding data acquisition, sample collection and participant accrual to
more precisely characterize exposures and timing of early life exposures by obtaining urinary metallome and
metal metabolomic measurements, and exposome monitoring data from the first trimester of pregnancy, along
with spatial analysis of naturally shed teeth for prenatal metal concentrations; and (3) extending follow-up to
identify childhood exposures to contaminants (through biomarkers and personal monitors); the home
environment (e.g., physical activity and sleep patterns, food environment, green, blue and white space, and
media usage); and medical exposures (e.g., prescription and non-prescription medications and surgical
interventions) that relate to fetal and childhood growth, obesity at age 3 years, respiratory infection and asthma
by age 5 years, and pulmonary function data at age 7.5 years. Additionally, novel statistical approaches will be
used to determine the role of the intestinal and salivary microbiome as mediators of these effects. The
collective expertise, meth...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10241453
- **Project number:** 5UH3OD023275-06
- **Recipient organization:** DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
- **Principal Investigator:** MARGARET Rita KARAGAS
- **Activity code:** UH3 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $5,255,245
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-09-21 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10241453

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10241453, A prospective study of critical environmental exposures in formative early life that impact lifelong health in rural US children: the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study (5UH3OD023275-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10241453. Licensed CC0.

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