Cohort Profile: The Hazelwood Health Study Latrobe Early Life Follow-Up (ELF) Study

Melody, Shannon; Wheeler, Amanda; Dalton, Megan; Williamson, Grant J.; Negishi, Kazuaki; Willis, Gabriela A.; Shao, Jiushu; Zhao, Bing; Chappell, Katherine; Wills, Karen; Reeves, Melanie; Emmerson, Kathryn M.; Ford, Jane B.; Dennekamp, Martine; Foong, Rachel E.; Abramson, Michael J.; Ikin, Jillian; Walker, Judi; Venn, Alison; Dharmage, Shyamali; Hall, Graham L.; Zosky, Graeme R.; Johnston, Fay H.

doi:10.1093/ije/dyaa136

Cited by 14 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…The ELF cohort was recruited to assess the health effects of a 6‐week air pollution episode 19 and was a prospective cohort of 571 children born between 1 March 2012 and 31 December 2015 who were living in the Latrobe Valley (south‐eastern Australia) at the time of a coalmine fire from 9 February 2014 to 31 March 2014. Children were recruited between February and September 2016 and the participating parent/carer completed a baseline survey.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The aim of this study was to determine if there is an association between respiratory and cardiovascular function in young children (3–5 years of age) and whether this relationship is confounded by risk factors known to alter cardiorespiratory health, including maternal smoking, maternal education and exposure to air pollution. To achieve this, we analysed data from the Early‐Life Follow‐up (ELF) 19 stream of the Hazelwood Health Study (HHS).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Associations between respiratory and vascular function in early childhood

et al. 2021

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Background and objective: The link between respiratory and vascular health is well documented in adult populations. Impaired lung function is consistently associated with thicker arteries and higher incidence of cardiovascular disease. However, there are limited data on this relationship in young children and the studies that exist have focussed on populations at high risk of cardiorespiratory morbidity. We determined if an association exists between respiratory and cardiovascular function in young children and, if so, whether it is confounded by known cardiorespiratory risk factors. Methods: Respiratory and vascular data from a prospective cohort study established to evaluate the health implications 3 years after coal mine fire smoke exposure in children aged 3-5 years were used. Respiratory function was measured using the forced oscillation technique and included resistance at 5 Hz (R 5 ), reactance at 5 Hz (X 5 ) and area under the reactance curve (AX). Vascular health was measured by carotid intima-media thickness (ultrasound) and pulse wave velocity (arterial tonometry). Regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between the respiratory Zscores and cardiovascular measures. Subsequent analyses were adjusted for potential confounding by maternal smoking during pregnancy, maternal education and exposure to fine particulate matter <2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM 2.5 ). Results: Peripheral lung function (X 5 and AX), but not respiratory system resistance (R 5 ), was associated with vascular function. Adjustment for maternal smoking, maternal education and early life exposure to PM 2.5 had minimal effect on these associations. Conclusion: These observations suggest that peripheral lung stiffness is associated with vascular stiffness and that this relationship is established early in life.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations between respiratory and vascular function in early childhood

et al. 2021

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“…The Hazelwood Health Study has been investigating the health effects of another acute high concentration smoke exposure event, the Hazelwood coal mine fire in Victoria, Australia [ 17 ]. This fire burned for 51 days in February and March 2014, and covered towns in regional Victoria in plumes of smoke and ash.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This fire burned for 51 days in February and March 2014, and covered towns in regional Victoria in plumes of smoke and ash. In this study, 571 children who were exposed either in utero, up to 2 years of age, or conceived after the fires, continue to be followed-up, while de-identified data from 3679 children born between March 2012 and December 2015 was used to assess effects on child health outcomes [ 17 ]. Average PM2.5 exposure attributable to the fire over the duration of pregnancy was 4.4 µg/m 3 with peak exposure of 45 µg/m 3 for women pregnant during the mine fire [ 18 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exposure to Stress and Air Pollution from Bushfires during Pregnancy: Could Epigenetic Changes Explain Effects on the Offspring?

Murphy

Karmaus

Mattes

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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Due to climate change, bushfires are becoming a more frequent and more severe phenomenon which contributes to poor health effects associated with air pollution. In pregnancy, environmental exposures can have lifelong consequences for the fetus, but little is known about these consequences in the context of bushfire smoke exposure. In this review we summarise the current knowledge in this area, and propose a potential mechanism linking bushfire smoke exposure in utero to poor perinatal and respiratory outcomes in the offspring. Bushfire smoke exposure is associated with poor pregnancy outcomes including reduced birth weight and an increased risk of prematurity. Some publications have outlined the adverse health effects on young children, particularly in relation to emergency department presentations and hospital admissions for respiratory problems, but there are no studies in children who were exposed to bushfire smoke in utero. Prenatal stress is likely to occur as a result of catastrophic bushfire events, and stress is known to be associated with poor perinatal and respiratory outcomes. Changes to DNA methylation are potential epigenetic mechanisms linking both smoke particulate exposure and prenatal stress to poor childhood respiratory health outcomes. More research is needed in large pregnancy cohorts exposed to bushfire events to explore this further, and to design appropriate mitigation interventions, in this area of global public health importance.

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“…Whilst the flames themselves did not directly threaten homes or cause loss of life, heavy smoke concentrations throughout the six-week period resulted in physical ill-health and psychological distress in the local community and caused considerable school disruption. 22,23 The Hazelwood Health Study (HHS; www.hazelwoodhealthstudy.org.au), established to evaluate the health and wellbeing impact of the mine fire, 23,24 conducted a school survey to evaluate the psychological outcomes of the mine fire on students. A subsequent evaluation of National Assessment Program—Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) results of survey participants suggested academic delays in highly smoke-exposed areas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the impact of Hazelwood mine fire event on students’ educational development with Bayesian interrupted time series hierarchical meta-regression

Gao

Broder

Brilleman

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Background: Disasters and other community-wide events can introduce significant interruptions and trauma to impacted communities. Children and young people can be disproportionately affected with additional educational disruptions. With the increasing threat of climate change, establishing a timely and adaptable framework to evaluate the impact of disasters on academic achievement is needed. However, analytical challenges are posed by the availability issue of individual-level data. Methods: A new method, Bayesian hierarchical meta-regression, was developed to evaluate the impact of the 2014 Hazelwood mine fire (a six-week fire event in Australia) using only aggregated school-level data from the standardised National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) test. NAPLAN results and school characteristics (2008-2018) from 69 primary/secondary schools with different levels of mine fire-related smoke exposure were used to estimate the impact of the event. Using an interrupted time-series design, the model estimated immediate effects and post-interruption trend differences with full Bayesian statistical inference. Results: Major academic interruptions across NAPLAN domains were evident in high exposure schools in the year post-mine fire (highest in Writing: 11.09 [95%CI: 3.16-18.93], lowest in Reading: 8.34 [95%CI: 1.07-15.51]). The interruption was comparable to a three to four-month delay in educational attainment and had not fully recovered after several years. Conclusions: Considerable academic delays were found as a result of a mine fire, highlighting the need to provide educational and community-based supports in response to future events. Importantly, this work provides a statistical method using readily available aggregated data to assess the educational impacts in response to other disasters

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Cohort Profile: The Hazelwood Health Study Latrobe Early Life Follow-Up (ELF) Study

Cited by 14 publications

References 5 publications

Associations between respiratory and vascular function in early childhood

Associations between respiratory and vascular function in early childhood

Exposure to Stress and Air Pollution from Bushfires during Pregnancy: Could Epigenetic Changes Explain Effects on the Offspring?

Evaluating the impact of Hazelwood mine fire event on students’ educational development with Bayesian interrupted time series hierarchical meta-regression

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