Immigration Policies, Dietary Acculturation, and Childhood Obesity
Mexican American children experience disproportionate rates of obesity compared to their non-Hispanic White and Mexican peers. Children of Mexican immigrants, especially those without documentation status, are exposed to psychosocial stress through their parents, yet nationally representative analyses of how structural factors affect child dietary acculturation or obesity are lacking. The tapestry of state- and local-level immigration policy climates in the United States provides an opportunity to study the law’s impact on children’s dietary patterns and obesity, both short- and long-term. To do so, this study analyzes a novel dataset of immigration policy climates linked to nationally representative data and applies quasi-experimental and longitudinal methods. Findings from the project advance our understanding of population-level structural determinants of obesity in Mexican American children before weight trajectories are set or comorbidities arise.
Funding Resource: 1R03HD114957-01
Project Lead: Dr. Lindsay Fernandez-Rhodes
Drinking water salinity in a hot-dry environment: Hydration, kidney function, and blood pressure
Increasing groundwater salinity is a key emerging global environmental health risk factor for hundreds of millions of adults, including in the United States. This research tests the central hypothesis that high water salinity is detrimental to hydration, kidney function, and blood pressure. It expands an ongoing longitudinal study to leverage a natural experiment created by a new water desalination system that varies from drinking water salinity levels across communities. The research integrates environmental measures of water quality and heat stress, socio-ecologic assessments, and health measures using point-of-care and gold-standard laboratory methods. The results will provide high-resolution data on drinking water salinity levels and their effects on human health, as well as potential mitigation through water desalination in affected areas.
Funding Resource: NIH R01ES035402
Project Lead: Dr. Asher Y. Rosinger
Archiving Data on the IWPR Population
In 2023, nearly 13.7 million immigrants lived in the United States without permanent residence (IWPR), making up 27 percent of immigrants overall and 30 percent of all children born abroad. An additional 5 million U.S.-born children have at least 1 IWPR parent. This project harmonizes data across existing data sets (American Community Survey, Department of Homeland Security admission data, and demographic estimates of mortality, emigration, and ACS survey coverage rates) that provide detailed demographic estimates and projections of the IWPR population and its children. The project harmonizes data to produce detailed estimates of the size of the IWPR population and its children ages 0-17 and then project the IWPR population and its children 10 years into the future under various scenarios. The project will also deposit the data into demographic research archives for dissemination to researchers, along with accessible and comprehensive documentation.
Related estimates are also available through the US Migration Metrics website, which is funded through sources other than NIH.
Funding Resource: NIH R03HD120503
Project Lead: Dr. Jennifer Van Hook
Climate-Health Action through Research, Mobilization, and Engagement of Stakeholders in Kenya (CHARMES- Kenya)
This project aims to drive evidence-based decision-making, strengthen health system resilience, and build a scalable model for climate-health policy action across Kenya and sub-Saharan Africa. CHARMES-Kenya brings together national and county governments, researchers, technical partners, health workers, and communities to improve integration of climate and health data. CHARMES works to bridge scientific evidence with local realities, ensuring that climate-sensitive health risks are identified and addressed through responsive health systems. CHARMES places particular emphasis on amplifying the perspectives of frontline health workers and communities, whose experiences are critical to designing practical and sustainable solutions. Through partnerships, data-driven approaches, and community engagement, the project supports the development of health systems better equipped to protect populations from current and emerging climate-related health threats, contributing to improved health outcomes and resilience in vulnerable communities across Kenya.
Funding Resource: Wellcome Fund
Project Lead: Dr. Anne Pisor