Collaborative Biostatistical Research

National Institute Of Environmental Health Sciences

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

We are working on several research projects within this project during this reporting year. Here are a sample of accomplishments. Although the development and wellbeing of a child is often linked to parental education but individual and joint contributions of maternal and paternal education have not been well-studied in the literature. In a manuscript submitted for publication, using a novel statistical technique we investigated the unique associations of each parent’s education as well as their joint effects on the developmental delays of a child. Metabolic syndrome, in particular insulin resistance is on the rise worldwide. This is becoming a common phenomenon especially among adolescents. Since there is also worldwide increase in Cesarean deliveries and neonatal exposure to antibiotics, there is interest in understanding the effects of these early life exposures on various health outcomes on children. To answer such questions, we conducted a study of adolescents who completed 12 years of follow-up from birth in the Norwegian Microbiome cohort (NoMIC), a prospective study where women were recruited from the maternity ward at Oestfold county in Norway during the period 2002-2005. Using data obtained from children belonging to this NoMIC cohort, we investigated the joint effects of Cesarean delivery and neonatal exposure to antibiotics, on C-peptide in blood, an indicator of insulin resistance. We found that the joint effects of C-section and neonatal antibiotics exposure was associated with a substantially higher C-peptide levels in all socioeconomic classes with the largest effects was observed in children of mothers with low socioeconomic status. The effect on C-peptide levels from C-section and antibiotics was in part mediated by weight in adolescence, indicating that parental efforts to prevent children from becoming overweight/obese may reduce the adverse effects of C-section on C-peptide. A research manuscript based on this work has been submitted for publication. There is a growing evidence that changes in the composition of the gut microbiome during pregnancy may impact the health of both the mother and the child in the short term as well as long term. Using data obtained on 185 pregnant women participating in NICHD's Pregnancy Eating Attributes Study. We investigated the associations between microbial taxa, their functional terms, and food components while controlling for relevant covariates. Our analysis provided insights into the potential role of diet quality and specific dietary components (e.g., dietary sugar, fat, and dairy) in the gut microbial composition and their functions during the second trimester of pregnancy (Dreisbach et al., 2024).