# Household Air Pollution, Adiposity, and Cardiorenal Disease Risk in Children

> **NIH NIH K23** · UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY · 2024 · $132,283

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Childhood obesity is a major public health threat with rates increasing at an alarming rate
worldwide. Currently 22.4% of children and adolescents are obese, approximately 16.7 million,
with rates of obesity increasing in all age groups in the pediatric population. Obese children are
more likely to be diagnosed with several major morbidities (hypertension, hyperlipidemia,
coronary artery disease, and diabetes). The estimated annual health care costs of obesity-
related illness are a staggering $190.2 billion or nearly 21% of annual medical spending in the
United States. Household air pollution (HAP) is a term that describes the health and
environmental impacts of pollutants produced from incomplete combustion of solid fuels such as
wood, coal, charcoal, animal dung, crop wastes burnt on open fires or wood-burning stoves in
poorly ventilated homes and releases suspended particulate matter (PM). There are few studies
examining the role of household air pollution including PM2.5 in cardiovascular risk in the setting
of pediatric obesity. An important component of cardiovascular health is a diurnal variation of
blood pressure, where nocturnal levels are approximately 20% lower than daytime values. The
absence of nocturnal BP-dipping in childhood may be an important indicator of early disease
risks and our team has recently published evidence that childhood obesity is associated with
non-dipping. The specific project proposed here will test the hypothesis that exposure to
household air pollution increases cardiovascular risk in obese children through an inflammation-
related disruption in diurnal BP regulation. This project will recruit patients aged 10-18 to define
relationships between at-home air quality and hypertension risk factors. A pilot study to
determine the impact of high efficacy particulate matter (HEPA) filtration units on air quality
exposure and health risks will be measured in these patients as well. This research addresses a
significant public health issue by understanding and identifying environmental exposures in a
vulnerable high-risk group of rural children in order to develop new treatments to improve their
health.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10916451
- **Project number:** 5K23ES034462-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY
- **Principal Investigator:** Margaret O. Murphy
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $132,283
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-09-01 → 2028-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10916451

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10916451, Household Air Pollution, Adiposity, and Cardiorenal Disease Risk in Children (5K23ES034462-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10916451. Licensed CC0.

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