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THE EFFECT OF A HOUSING MOBILITY PROGRAM ON ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES AND ASTHMA MORBIDITY AMONG LOW-INCOME MINORITY CHILDREN

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Principal Investigator: Pollack, Craig Evan
Institute Receiving Award Johns Hopkins University
Location Baltimore, MD
Grant Number R01ES026170
Funding Organization National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
Award Funding Period 01 Mar 2016 to 30 Jun 2026
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Children living in poor-urban neighborhoods bear a high burden of asthma morbidity, and there is strong evidence that housing-related environmental exposures such as pest allergens are a major driver of this excess asthma morbidity. Historic residential discrimination together with systemic disinvestment in neighborhoods have contributed to poor neighborhood and housing conditions, which make successful mitigation of housing-related exposures difficult, and in many cases, impossible. In contrast, housing mobility programs, where families are supported in moving to less segregated communities, may address the root- causes of the exposures that drive asthma disparities, while also serving as a tool by which we can parse the role of various housing and neighborhood exposures and understand their long-term effects on asthma. In our Mobility Asthma Project (MAP, R01 ES026170-05), children with asthma are followed before and after moving from high-poverty segregated neighborhoods to low-poverty neighborhoods. We have found, so far, that with moving, allergen levels and asthma outcomes are markedly reduced. This suggests that housing policy may be a tool to reduce asthma disparities. However, while these initial findings strongly support the benefit of housing mobility programs on short-term asthma outcomes, additional questions have emerged which can only be answered by follow-up of this unique cohort. Our aims here are (1) To compare long-term (4-7 years) asthma morbidity and home exposures between low-income, minority children with asthma who move to low-poverty neighborhoods with similar children living in high-poverty neighborhoods, (2) To determine if moving from a high- to a low-poverty neighborhood is associated with improved lung function growth among the original MAP participants by repeatedly assessing lung function up to 4-7 years post-move and comparing their lung function trajectories with a similar population from the URECA cohort and (3) To examine the role of stress, measured by: a) exposure to neighborhood stressors, b) parental/caregiver stress, and c) child stress in the relationships between indoor exposures, moving, and asthma morbidity and lung function. The proposed MAP Follow-Up Study is poised to advance our understanding of the long-term effects of living in poor quality housing in high poverty neighborhoods on asthma and lung function growth and directly inform the development of policy- oriented interventions, such as expansion of housing mobility programs, which show great promise for reducing the disproportionate burden of asthma among minority children with asthma.
Science Code(s)/Area of Science(s) Primary: 69 - Respiratory
Secondary: -
Publications See publications associated with this Grant.
Program Officer Lindsey Martin
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