# The Environmental Factors in FEtal to Childhood Trajectories Cohort

> **NIH NIH UG3** · FEINSTEIN INSTITUTE FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH · 2024 · $5,623,468

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
The Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Pediatric Cohorts program launched in 2016,
bringing together more than 30 extant cohorts to investigate the roles of a broad range of early exposures on
five key child health outcomes. ECHO is now expanding to include new cohorts starting in pregnancy. We
propose to recruit the Environmental Factors in FEtal to Childhood Trajectories EFFECT cohort to participate in
the ECHO program. EFFECT will be a prospective birth cohort of 2,800 pregnant people, their partners, and their
children recruited in southern New York State over 7 years. The scientific premise of our cohort is that social
determinants of health (SDoH) impacting both parents before a child’s birth play a significant role in the
development of child obesity. Our Specific Aims are:
Aim 1: Test the hypothesis that in-utero chemical and maternal psychosocial exposures during
pregnancy interact to create differential childhood growth trajectories (growth latency and growth
spurts) from birth to age 5. We will leverage survey and biomarker data collected under the ECHO core
protocol to model the impact of concurrent in utero exposure to phthalates and maternal stress on childhood
growth trajectories.
Aim 2: Test the hypothesis that early life exposure to adverse social determinants of health (SDoH) are
associated with higher rates of child obesity and that this association varies by racial/ethnic
background. We will leverage specialized exposure data (psychosocial environment) and specialized outcome
data (obesity) to test the hypothesis that exposure to parental material hardships and psychosocial vulnerabilities
is associated with higher rates of child obesity, particularly for children from minority groups.
Aim 3: Recruit and retain a robust, diverse cohort of 2,800 families and implement the ECHO protocol
with high fidelity. We will partner with our extremely diverse patient population and leverage innovative
participant-centric technological support as well as committed community engagement to achieve this Aim.
Exploratory Aim 4: To measure the direct and interactive effects of preconception physiologic and
psychosocial exposures on child weight outcomes. We will measure the direct and interactive effects of pre-
conception adiposity and caregiver receipt of social support on early life measures of child obesity risk.
Our proposed cohort and study team are perfectly positioned to meet the current needs of the ECHO program:
1) to address solution-oriented scientific questions of high priority; 2) to increase the number of enrolled pregnant
participants; 3) to facilitate the enrollment of the non-gestational parent; 4) to facilitate collection of preconception
data; 5) to increase the racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity of the ECHO cohort; and 6) to increase
diversity in race, ethnicity, career stage, and professional background of the research workforce.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10914245
- **Project number:** 5UG3OD035532-02
- **Recipient organization:** FEINSTEIN INSTITUTE FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH
- **Principal Investigator:** Burton Rochelson
- **Activity code:** UG3 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $5,623,468
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-09-01 → 2025-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10914245

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10914245, The Environmental Factors in FEtal to Childhood Trajectories Cohort (5UG3OD035532-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10914245. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*