CHAI

Cardiovascular Health effects of Air pollution in Andhra Pradesh, India

Duration: 2015-2018
Coordinator: Cathryn Tonne (ISGlobal)
Funded by: European Research Council (Starting Grant)
Website: http://www.chaiproject.org

There is large uncertainty in the relationship between exposure to combustion particles and cardiovascular risk for concentrations higher than those typical of outdoor concentrations in urban areas of high income. India is a useful setting for investigating the cardiovascular risk of particles across a wide exposure range, including the range for which there is the largest uncertainty in the exposure-response relationship. High particle concentrations have been measured outdoors in Indian cities, within vehicles, and in households using solid fuel for cooking.

The aim of this project is to investigate the cardiovascular health effects of exposure to particulate air pollution from outdoor and household sources within the Andhra Pradesh Children and Parents Study (APCAPS) prospective cohort.

The specific objectives are as follows:

To characterize medium-term exposure of participants of the APCAPS cohort to particles using an integrated approach utilizing mobile monitoring of outdoor concentrations, personal monitoring, and previously collected questionnaire data.
To use methods for the objective measurement of location and time-activity patterns based on global positioning system (GPS) devices and ‘life-logging’ image capture, linked to real-time personal monitoring of particle pollution to identify specific activities and microenvironments important for particle exposure.
To quantify the association between exposure to particles and biomarkers of arterial vulnerability: intima media thickness of the carotid artery and arterial stiffness.