# Childhood Obesity and Cardiometabolic Health among Impoverished Mexican Americans

> **NIH NIH R01** · ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY-TEMPE CAMPUS · 2022 · $646,740

## Abstract

Project Summary
Substantial health inequities exist for Hispanic children. Recent national statistics indicate Hispanic youth are
nearly twice as likely to be obese as non-Hispanic white youth. Cardiometabolic risk indicators are also
elevated among Hispanic children relative to children of other ethnicities. The identification of risk and
resiliency predictors of poor health during childhood and adolescence from a longitudinal and developmental
perspective will provide specific targets amenable to preventive public health interventions. We propose to
capitalize on longitudinal data collected by an NIH-funded study of very low-income Mexican American
mothers and youth (Las Madres Nuevas) that assessed a multitude of cultural, biological, family, and
environmental risk and protective factors from the prenatal period through ten years of age, including 13
objective measures of child weight and health beginning at birth. We propose to leverage this existing
longitudinal dataset and evaluate weight gain and cardiometabolic health trajectories, and additional risk and
resiliency factors at child ages 12-13 and 15-16. The COVID-19 pandemic and racial tensions in the U.S.
provide natural ecological stressors that can disrupt normally-developing trajectories or worsen at-risk
trajectories. With data collected recently on the impact of these stressors on youth, the project is ideally
situated to examine health-related consequences of these significant social and environmental challenges. In
combination, we will: 1) Examine trajectories of child weight gain from birth to age 15-16 years and associated
cardiometabolic health consequences (e.g., blood pressure, HbA1c, cholesterol, CRP, IL-6); 2) Examine
macro-level social, cultural, and environmental risk and protective factors (e.g., negative racial climate,
concentrated disadvantage, neighborhood opportunity) that influence developmental trajectories in weight gain
and cardiometabolic health. 3) Examine proximal influences (e.g., acculturation and cultural values; maternal
and child mental health; family feeding and behavioral practices) on trajectories of weight gain and
cardiometabolic health; 4) Conduct a nuanced examination of ecological and salient major life events (e.g.,
COVID, puberty) that potentially divert weight gain and cardiometabolic trajectories, focusing on the unique
characteristics of youth who are relatively unaffected, recover, or are chronically affected. The proposed study
utilizes data from biological measures, anthropometric measures, parent report, youth report, medical records,
and observational protocols. Our scientific approach emphasizes the cultural embeddedness of healthy
development, with the view that health equity can best be achieved by understanding sociocultural and
economic forces that shape eating behavior and weight gain. This project holds great potential to address
central questions about contributors to weight gain and obesity risk in a high-risk group, and enhan...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10519902
- **Project number:** 2R01MD011599-06
- **Recipient organization:** ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY-TEMPE CAMPUS
- **Principal Investigator:** LINDA J LUECKEN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $646,740
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2017-08-07 → 2027-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10519902

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10519902, Childhood Obesity and Cardiometabolic Health among Impoverished Mexican Americans (2R01MD011599-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10519902. Licensed CC0.

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