Lead Exposure, Micronutrients, Social Vulnerability, and Preterm Birth (ECHO-OIF)
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Examining whether prenatal lead exposure increases preterm birth risk, and whether micronutrient adequacy and community-level social vulnerability modify that association, using data from the ECHO Data Warehouse.
Prenatal lead exposure is a well-documented neurodevelopmental hazard, but its role in adverse birth outcomes remains less characterized. This project, part of the NIH ECHO (Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes) program, examines whether prenatal lead exposure from multiple pathways, including water, air, and housing age, is associated with preterm birth, and whether that association is modified by maternal micronutrient adequacy and community-level social vulnerability.
Using data from the ECHO Data Warehouse, we apply generalized estimating equations to account for clustering across ECHO cohorts, with multiple imputation for missing exposure and covariate data. A secondary aim extends the framework to test whether social vulnerability, as captured by the CDC SVI, conditions the lead-PTB association independently of micronutrient status. This is a collaborative project with Eaves (PI) at UNC Chapel Hill, funded through the ECHO OIF mechanism (EC0905a, June 2025 to May 2027).
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