# Pre- and postnatal chemical mixture exposure, adolescent sleep health, and allostatic load

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE · 2024 · $441,071

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
A majority of U.S. adolescents are not getting sufficient sleep for optimal health. Sleep health is critical during
adolescence because of rapid neurodevelopment, growth, and body composition changes. Moreover,
inadequate and poor-quality sleep can increase allostatic load, or cumulative physiological ‘wear and tear’, from
disruptions across multiple regulatory systems that coordinate immune, cardiovascular, and metabolic function.
Evidence indicates that developmental exposures to ubiquitous environmental toxicants may disrupt
neurobiological mechanisms that regulate sleep and allostasis. However, whether these exposures are
modifiable risk factors for poor sleep during adolescence has not been rigorously examined. Our multidisciplinary
project brings together experts in pediatric environmental health, sleep, and cardiometabolic health to identify
whether early life exposure to environmental toxicant mixtures disrupts adolescent sleep health and increases
allostatic load. This project focuses on mixtures of phthalates, per-/polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and
metals. Most pregnant people, infants, and children are exposed to mixtures of these toxicants through diet and
consumer goods. The project leverages existing and new data from two well-characterized prospective
pregnancy and birth cohorts, the Health Outcomes and Measures of the Environment (HOME) Study and the
Maternal-Infant Research on Environmental Chemicals (MIREC) Study. Both cohorts previously enrolled
pregnant women and followed children until ages 7-9 (MIREC n=300) or 10-12 (HOME n=256) years with
additional visits underway at ages 10-12 (MIREC) and 16-18 (HOME) years. Sleep characteristics will be
examined at two timepoints in both cohorts using actigraphy. We will quantify relations between environmental
toxicant biomarkers during gestation, early childhood, school age, and adolescence with sleep characteristics
(Aim 1) and allostatic load (Aim 2) during adolescence. We will also examine whether exposure to environmental
toxicant mixtures is associated with hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) activity, catecholamines, and
systemic inflammation, biological intermediates of sleep-wake regulation and allostasis (Aim 3). Our analyses
will identify individual and joint effects of environmental toxicant mixtures and examine periods of heightened
susceptibility during critical developmental periods. Identifying modifiable environmental factors that contribute
to poor sleep health and allostatic load may inform novel interventions to reduce the risk of cardiovascular
disease, the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in adulthood worldwide.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10928218
- **Project number:** 5R01ES035133-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE
- **Principal Investigator:** Clara G Sears
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $441,071
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-09-12 → 2028-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10928218

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10928218, Pre- and postnatal chemical mixture exposure, adolescent sleep health, and allostatic load (5R01ES035133-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10928218. Licensed CC0.

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