# The NYU Children’s Health & Environment Study: an ECHO Cohort

> **NIH NIH UG3** · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2024 · $7,600,000

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
NYU Grossman School of Medicine (NYUGSOM) presents an application for: (1) ongoing enrollment of
pregnancies, conceiving partners and their children from the NYU Children’s Health and Environment Study
(NYU CHES, UG3/UH3OD023305) into the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes Program
(ECHO) Cohort, (2) follow up of already enrolled mother-infant pairs and (3) piloting of the ECHO
preconception study. NYU CHES enrolls pregnant people <18 weeks gestation from NYUGSOM-affiliated
obstetric clinics. The cohort is
diverse (
50% Hispanic, 9.7% Asian, 5.2% Black; 49% Public Insurance
) and
 Over the past seven years, we exceeded our expected enrollment
by over 100% (>2000 mother-child pairs compared with the planned 1000). We sustained strong retention
despite the COVID-19 pandemic, with nearly 72-83% visit completion at each of five time points in infancy (4-7,
8-11, 12-27, 18-23 and 24-35 months) and biospecimen collection rates as high as 80% in pregnancy. We
contributed substantially to ECHO-wide science, with an emphasis on chemical/physical environmental
exposures (our Specialized Exposure area). PI Trasande was the inaugural co-chair of the Obesity Working
Group, and NYU CHES contributed specialized measures of obesity (our Specialized Outcome area) through
the application of plethysmography and dual-absorption X-ray absorptiometry. We vigorously responded to the
pandemic by co-leading the COVID-19 Working Group, completing a multi-cohort study of SARS-CoV-2
infection and birth outcomes supported by an ECHO Supplement, and obtaining funding from the NIH
RECOVER Initiative to identify long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children. Our scientific
productivity is manifested not only in our 32 cohort-specific publications, but more importantly in our
contribution to a plethora of ECHO-wide publications that span all five of ECHO’s outcomes. We propose to
continue our enrollment of new pregnancies at the rate we achieved during the previous funding period (520
mother-child pairs/year). We will continue to implement the ECHO Cohort Data and Biospecimen Collection
Protocol and its central data capture system (REDCap Central) among all participants. We anticipate enrolling
200 NYU CHES mothers and their partners each year into the Preconception Pilot Study as soon as feasible
after delivery. We suggest innovative science for the pregnancy and preconception cohorts, including
expanding our study of chemical and physical exposures to include novel contaminants such as heterocyclic
aromatic amines and melamine, led by Co-I Kannan, who directs a NIEHS Human Health Exposure Analysis
Resource laboratory (U2CES026542). We apply an innovative digital platform for participant engagement,
retention and data collection developed by Vibrent Health for the NIH All of Us Study, which we recommend for
broader application in the ECHO Program. PI Trasande is an international leader in children’s environmental
health (CEH) and directs an...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10925340
- **Project number:** 5UG3OD023305-09
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Leonardo Trasande
- **Activity code:** UG3 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $7,600,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-09-21 → 2025-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10925340

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10925340, The NYU Children’s Health & Environment Study: an ECHO Cohort (5UG3OD023305-09). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10925340. Licensed CC0.

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