# The Penn State Child Sleep Cohort: Cardiometabolic and Neurocognitive Risk in Young Adulthood

> **NIH NIH R01** · PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV HERSHEY MED CTR · 2020 · $738,226

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
 Adolescence is a critical period for normal, healthy development but also for the onset of significant health
problems, including those related to the obesity epidemic such as sleep disordered breathing (SDB). While
obesity is highly persistent since childhood, the natural course of childhood SDB is remission in the transition
to adolescence. However, the incidence of SDB dramatically increases in adolescence and cohort studies in
adults have shown that the association of SDB with adverse cardiometabolic and neurocognitive outcomes is
strongest in young adults (20-30y). We hypothesize that the impact of obesity and SDB on adverse health
outcomes in young adults is a consequence of their chronic course in the transition from adolescence. From a
mechanistic perspective, however, the association of obesity and SDB with these adverse health outcomes
remains poorly understood. Likely candidates, beyond standard measures such as waist circumference or
number of apneas/hypopneas during sleep, are chronic low-grade inflammation and activation of both limbs of
the stress system. There are no prospective studies examining the impact and underlying mechanisms of
adolescent obesity and SDB on adverse health outcomes in young adulthood. We propose to conduct a follow-
up examination of the Penn State Child Cohort (PSCC), a population-based sample of children who were 5-12
years old at baseline (visit 1) and 12-23 years old at their previous follow-up (visit 2). The overall objective is to
prospectively assess the subclinical and clinical consequences of adolescent SDB and obesity and their
underlying systemic (immune and stress) mechanisms and lifestyle risk factors. Specifically, we propose to 1)
Detail the natural history of SDB in the transition between adolescence and young adulthood and establish its
key determinant, focusing on visceral adiposity independent of body mass index percentile; 2) Test the
longitudinal association between adolescent SDB with adverse cardiometabolic and neurocognitive outcomes
in young adulthood and its underlying immune- and stress-related mechanisms; and 3) Test the longitudinal
association between adolescent visceral obesity, independent of SDB, with cardiometabolic and
neurocognitive outcomes in young adulthood via systemic mechanisms and novel circadian- and sleep-related
lifestyle risk factors. This innovative, transdisciplinary paradigm will fill the gap in current knowledge of the
underlying mechanisms playing a key role in the association of adolescent SDB and obesity with adverse
health outcomes in young adulthood, while testing two non-mutually exclusive mechanisms as they relate to
systemic dysregulation and lifestyle factors. The potential for circadian and sleep disorders to play a role in the
association of obesity, a public health problem of epidemic proportions, with adverse health outcomes makes
this proposal translational to public health and clinical interventions, as most of the factors an...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9969587
- **Project number:** 5R01HL136587-03
- **Recipient organization:** PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV HERSHEY MED CTR
- **Principal Investigator:** Julio Fernandez-Mendoza
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $738,226
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-08-25 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9969587

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9969587, The Penn State Child Sleep Cohort: Cardiometabolic and Neurocognitive Risk in Young Adulthood (5R01HL136587-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9969587. Licensed CC0.

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