Environment/Climate Change
The Bangladesh Longitudinal Child-Adolescent Development, Education, and Environment Study (BLADES) Juwel Rana* JUWEL RANA Ridwana Nahrin Sadia Katha U S Rokeya Akhter Toufica Sultana Rakib Islam Abdus Salam Jay S Kaufman
Concurrent exposures to environmental and climate-related factors, inadequate living conditions, poor nutrition, psychosocial stress, and structural inequities adversely affect child-adolescent development, academic attainment, and health outcomes. Yet a few studies have comprehensively analyzed how multiple exposures shape health outcomes in urban slums, agricultural regions, and coal mine areas with complex social and environmental conditions. To address this gap, the South Asian Institute for Social Transformation (SAIST) launched the Bangladesh Longitudinal Child-Adolescent Development, Education, and Environment Study (BLADES) in 2021 across Dhaka and Dinajpur districts. Adopting a community-level exposomics framework, BLADES aims to examine the concurrent, prospective, and lifetime exposures, including environmental, climate-sensitive, psychosocial, lifestyle, and structural factors—and their effects on child development, academic performance, and maternal-child health. BLADES enrolled 2,331 households with children aged 0–18 and mothers from 2022 to 2024, following them annually. Baseline phases I–III and follow-up I measured household, school, and ambient air pollutants (PM1, PM2.5, PM10, SO₂, CO, NO₂, O₃, heavy metals, PAH), climate-sensitive variables (greenness/NDVI, temperature, humidity, rainfall, floods, storms, cyclones, drought, heat waves, nighttime light), and socioeconomic data. Outcomes span growth, development, school attendance, academic performance, blood pressure, lung function, mental health, functional difficulties, behavioral issues (SDQ), quality of life, and maternal well-being. Blood samples will be collected for biomarkers—heat shock proteins, DNA methylation, inflammatory markers, oxidative stress markers, fluid balance indicators, and hormones associated with heat and air pollution. Early data show that 25% of participants were under six, 40% were aged 11–15, and 45% of households were in the poorest wealth quintile. Median PM2.5 is higher in Dhaka (104 µg/m³) than in Dinajpur (70 µg/m³). BLADES will produce critical evidence on how community-level exposomics affect child-adolescent development and long-term health outcomes for children and their mothers, guiding interventions for marginalized communities.
