Urban exposome and body mass index trajectories from birth to adolescence

This project proposes to investigate the association between features of the urban exposome and overweight and obesity in urban-dwelling children. The urban exposome includes three main categories: air pollution, the built environment and the natural environment.

There is evidence for an association between certain, specific features of the exposome and obesity in children, such as air pollution and motor vehicle traffic. There is, however, a paucity of major studies investigating the whole urban exposome and how it relates to overweight and obesity in children. Furthermore, socio-economic status (SES) is a critical consideration due to its known relationship with both urban pollution and human health, and to date few studies have accounted for this.

The specific objectives of this study are to investigate the potential relationship between the entire urban exposome and childhood overweight and obesity; and, additionally, to investigate the influence of SES on this potential relationship.