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Supervisor: Leah Li, Mengyun Liu
Project Description:
Background - Globally, climate change has contributed to an increase in extreme weather events (e.g. heatwaves, floods, droughts) which have long lasing impacts on population health and wellbeing. Vulnerable population groups, such as children, pregnant women, and socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals are worse affected, with greater risks of a range of adverse health outcomes.
Aims/Objectives - This PD project will investigate the impacts of prenatal exposure to extreme weather, such as high ambient temperature and heatwaves, on child health, with a focus on child growth.
Methods - The student will use the large database of the 100 Million Brazilian Cohort, which was created by the linkage of three Brazilian administrative databases: the Cadastro Único of the Federal Government (low income families eligible for social protection programmes), the National System of Live Births, and the National Food and Nutritional Surveillance System. Over 130 million individuals entered the cohort between 2001-2018. The cohort database includes social and demographic records, birth records, physical measurements, nutrition and health data, with the linkage to the climate data (the Climate Platform at Cidacs, the Centre of Data and Knowledge Integration for Health).
The student will investigate the in-utero exposure to high temperature and heatwaves (i.e. their presence, intensity, and duration such as the critical periods in pregnancy) and the impact on perinatal and child outcomes. The student will examine the nutritional status, catch up growth of children born with low birthweight or small for gestational age, and measures of double burden malnutrition, which refers to the co-existing of undernutrition (stunting, wasting) and overnutrition (overweight, obesity) in children. The student will further explore whether the impact differs by subgroup (e.g. ethnic/racial group, socio-economic group and region). During the project the student will visit the data centre in Brazil (Cidacs) to learn about the data and work with local researchers.
Timeline (01/10/2025-30/09/28)
• Months 1-3: apply for ethic approval, get the access of the 100 million Brazilian cohort data, familiarise the data, and review literature on climate change and child health.
• Months 4-5: the student will visit Cidicas (where the data are held) to meet researchers who work on the database, start data checking/cleaning, derive relevant variables (climate data, health outcomes, and covariates), and conduct preliminary data analysis
• Months 6-15: learn statistical methods for analysing longitudinal growth data and climate data, conduct analysis and draft first paper on the impact of high temperatures on birth outcomes.
• Months 16-17: prepare for the upgrade report and viva.
• Months 18-19: the student will visit Cidicas again to resolve any issues in data analysis, and exchange ideas with researchers who are experienced in the database.
• Months 20-30: conduct analysis and draft second paper on the impact of high temperature on childhood growth (including stunting and overweight), and present methods and findings at conferences.
• Months 31-36: write up thesis and have the viva.
Contact Information:
Leah Li