In Utero Household Air Pollution Exposure and Lung Development in Ghana

Plain-language summary

Household air pollution from cook stoves using solid fuels dominates total population air pollution exposures. Females and young children are disproportionately affected as they either perform or are present for the majority of cooking activities. Worldwide, household air pollution is responsible for 1.6 million premature deaths annually, largely secondary to respiratory tract infections, and 2.7% of worldwide disability-adjusted life years. Children that survive childhood are not free from disease; the WHO estimates that 35% of COPD cases worldwide are secondary to household air pollution. Reducing female and infant morbidity and mortality related to household air pollution secondary to biomass smoke exposure is a top-priority public health goal. We hypothesize that in utero biomass smoke exposure results in a fetal oxidant imbalance, which negatively impacts lung development. We will leverage the success of the Ghana Randomized Air Pollution and Health Study, a randomized cook stove intervention trial of 1,415 mother-infant pairs, to examine the impact of maternal household air pollution exposure on cord blood oxidant imbalance and infant pulmonary function. We aim to enroll at least 150 infants, analyze cord blood samples for markers of oxidant imbalance and perform infant pulmonary function testing. Cord blood will also be prepared for future immune, hormonal and epigenetic testing. This study will allow us to consider interventions, such as maternal antioxidant dietary supplementation during pregnancy, to compliment existing cook stove interventions and reduce household air pollution-related morbidity and mortality.

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