Prenatal Household Air Pollution Exposure, Cord Blood Mononuclear Cell Telomere Length and Age Four Blood Pressure: Evidence from a Ghanaian Pregnancy Cohort
Seyram Kaali,
Darby Jack,
Jones Opoku-Mensah,
Tessa Bloomquist,
Joseph Aanaro,
Ashlinn Quinn,
Ellen Abrafi Boamah-Kaali,
Patrick Kinney,
Mohammed Nuhu Mujtaba,
Oscar Agyei,
Abena Konadu Yawson,
Samuel Osei-Owusu,
Rupert Delimini,
Blair Wylie,
Kenneth Ayuurebobi Ae-Ngibise,
Andrea Baccarelli,
Seth Owusu-Agyei,
Steven N. Chillrud,
Kwaku Poku Asante,
Alison Lee
Affiliations
Seyram Kaali
Kintampo Health Research Centre, Ghana Health Service, Kintampo P.O. Box 200, Bono East Region, Ghana
Darby Jack
Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
Jones Opoku-Mensah
Kintampo Health Research Centre, Ghana Health Service, Kintampo P.O. Box 200, Bono East Region, Ghana
Tessa Bloomquist
Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
Joseph Aanaro
Kintampo Health Research Centre, Ghana Health Service, Kintampo P.O. Box 200, Bono East Region, Ghana
Ashlinn Quinn
Fogarty International Centre, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Ellen Abrafi Boamah-Kaali
Kintampo Health Research Centre, Ghana Health Service, Kintampo P.O. Box 200, Bono East Region, Ghana
Patrick Kinney
Department of Environmental Health, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02118, USA
Mohammed Nuhu Mujtaba
Kintampo Health Research Centre, Ghana Health Service, Kintampo P.O. Box 200, Bono East Region, Ghana
Oscar Agyei
Kintampo Health Research Centre, Ghana Health Service, Kintampo P.O. Box 200, Bono East Region, Ghana
Abena Konadu Yawson
Kintampo Health Research Centre, Ghana Health Service, Kintampo P.O. Box 200, Bono East Region, Ghana
Samuel Osei-Owusu
Kintampo Health Research Centre, Ghana Health Service, Kintampo P.O. Box 200, Bono East Region, Ghana
Rupert Delimini
Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho PMB 31, Volta Region, Ghana
Blair Wylie
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre, Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Boston, MA 02215, USA
Kenneth Ayuurebobi Ae-Ngibise
Kintampo Health Research Centre, Ghana Health Service, Kintampo P.O. Box 200, Bono East Region, Ghana
Andrea Baccarelli
Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
Seth Owusu-Agyei
Kintampo Health Research Centre, Ghana Health Service, Kintampo P.O. Box 200, Bono East Region, Ghana
Steven N. Chillrud
Department, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964, USA
Kwaku Poku Asante
Kintampo Health Research Centre, Ghana Health Service, Kintampo P.O. Box 200, Bono East Region, Ghana
Alison Lee
Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
Associations between prenatal household air pollution exposure (HAP), newborn telomere length and early childhood blood pressure are unknown. Methods: Pregnant women were randomized to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) stove, improved biomass stove or control (traditional, open fire cook stove). HAP was measured by personal carbon monoxide (CO) (n = 97) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) (n = 60). At birth, cord blood mononuclear cells (CBMCs) were collected for telomere length (TL) analyses. At child age four years, we measured resting blood pressure (BP) (n = 97). We employed multivariable linear regression to determine associations between prenatal HAP and cookstove arm and assessed CBMC relative to TL separately. We then examined associations between CBMC TL and resting BP. Results: Higher prenatal PM2.5 exposure was associated with reduced TL (β = −4.9% (95% CI −8.6, −0.4), p = 0.03, per 10 ug/m3 increase in PM2.5). Infants born to mothers randomized to the LPG cookstove had longer TL (β = 55.3% (95% CI 16.2, 109.6), p p = 0.05, per 10% decrease in TL). Increased prenatal HAP exposure is associated with shorter TL at birth. Shorter TL at birth is associated with higher age four BP, suggesting that TL at birth may be a biomarker of HAP-associated disease risk.
