# Prenatal WTC Chemical Exposures, Birth Outcomes and Cardiometabolic Risks-Resubmission-1

> **NIH ALLCDC U01** · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2020 · $599,837

## Abstract

Project Summary
NYU School of Medicine, the Mailman School of Public Health, the Wadsworth Laboratories of the NYS
Department of Health, and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center respond to PAR-16-098, proposing to
leverage two unique and contemporaneous cohorts to examine chemical and psychosocial stressors in
relationship to proximity to the WTC site and self-reported exposures, and evaluate birth, neurodevelopment
and cardiometabolic outcomes. The first is comprised of mothers who delivered in one of three lower
Manhattan hospitals in the months after the disaster, and the other is the northern Manhattan-based Columbia
Children's Environmental Health Center (NM) cohort. The NM cohort includes children born just before and
after September 11, 2001 permitting nested evaluations of stress-related exposures. Except for
cardiometabolic outcomes, the data are already available including freshly obtained measurements of POPs,
which we will extend to include PFCs with NIOSH support. In both populations, neurodevelopmental outcomes
have been assessed through 6-7 years of age. Taking advantage of temporal and geographic differences in
these cohorts, we will compare both psychosocial and chemical exposures and their association with outcomes
among children who were and were not prenatally exposed to the WTC disaster. This study leverages
previously measured biomarkers and prospectively collected data on psychosocial stress. In addition, we will
be the first to examine physical health of adolescents exposed in utero to the WTC disaster. While other
studies have examined non-invasive measurements of central and peripheral arterial stiffness, ours is one of
the first to examine chemical exposures in relation to these endpoints in adolescence. Preclinical measures
included in the proposed project may be more sensitive cardiovascular endpoints reflecting environmental
influences in homogeneous populations such as young children and adolescents. The study is led by an
international leader in children's environmental health who has conducted the only in-depth physical health
studies of children exposed to the disaster (Trasande) with leaders of two large birth cohorts, one including
children born in three lower Manhattan hospitals; and another of upper Manhattan children that will serve as a
comparison (Herbstman, Perera, and Rauh). If WTC chemical exposures are associated with these outcomes,
the study findings could facilitate proactive interventions such as treatment with antihypertensive medications
which have been documented to prolong survival among adults with suboptimal cardiovascular profile.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9934064
- **Project number:** 5U01OH011299-04
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Julie Beth Herbstman
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** ALLCDC
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $599,837
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-07-01 → 2021-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9934064

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9934064, Prenatal WTC Chemical Exposures, Birth Outcomes and Cardiometabolic Risks-Resubmission-1 (5U01OH011299-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9934064. Licensed CC0.

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