{
  "abstract": "Prenatal exposure to ambient air pollutants has been associated with adverse child health across different populations. In the absence of direct air pollution exposure measures, epigenetic biomarkers can serve as indicators of cumulative exposure. Previously, we developed a methodological pipeline to build a prediction model to distinguish infants highly exposed to air pollutants in utero based on DNA methylation in cord blood samples. Here, we test and refine this pipeline using data from multiple pregnancy cohort sites included in the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Cohort. Levels of prenatal exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), and 8-hour maximum ozone (O₃) were modeled using geocoded address data and machine learning. DNA methylation was measured using 450K or EPIC arrays. Training and validation sets were created and matched based on exposure level, cohort site, and array type to test the performance of the pipeline prediction model using area under the curve metrics. Among the three exposures, epigenetic-based predictions of PM2.5 and NO₂ produced higher area under the curve values (0.64-0.68 and 0.62-0.95, respectively) than those for O₃ (0.50-0.75). We identified differences in the performance of the pipeline model across geographical regions, exposure windows, and thresholds used to distinguish \"high\" and \"low\" air pollutant exposure. Overall, this pipeline enabled the estimation of air pollution from DNA methylation data, though careful consideration of model inputs is required. Further studies will test the performance of the CpG sites identified by the pipeline to predict child health outcomes.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, United States.",
    "Genomics and Applied Public Health Center, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC 27713, United States.",
    "School of Public Health, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, United States.",
    "Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02144, United States.",
    "Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, United States.",
    "Department of Environmental Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, United States.",
    "University of Milan, Milan, 20122, Italy.",
    "Department of Epidemiology, Colorado School of Public Health, Aurora, CO 13001, United States.",
    "Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, United States.",
    "Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States.",
    "Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, United States.",
    "Department of Biostatistics, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, United States.",
    "Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN 38163, United States.",
    "Avera Research Institute, Sioux Falls, SD 57108, United States.",
    "Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of South Dakota, Sioux Falls, SD 57069, United States.",
    "Department of Epidemiology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH 03755, United States.",
    "Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Genome Center, University of California Davis, Davis, CA 95616, United States.",
    "The MIND (Medical Investigations of Neurodevelopmental Disorders) Institute, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817, United States.",
    "Department of Nutrition and Health Science, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306, United States.",
    "Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, United States.",
    "The Child Mind Institute, New York, NY 10022, United States.",
    "RTI International, Research Triangle Park, GA 27713, United States.",
    "Division of Research, Women's and Children's Health Section, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Pleasanton, CA 94588, United States.",
    "Department of Pediatrics, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI 53792, United States.",
    "Division of Neonatology, Northwell Health Cohen Children's Medical Center, Hyde Park, NY 11042, United States.",
    "Department of Public Health Sciences, University of California Davis, Davis, CA 95616, United States.",
    "Henry Ford Health + Michigan State University Health Sciences, Detroit, MI 48202, United States.",
    "Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 49503, United States.",
    "Department of Medicine, Center for Precision Environmental Health, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, United States."
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 27,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Abigail Gaylord",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5859-6359"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Julie D White",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2235-4817"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Tessa Bloomquist"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Carrie Breton"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Carlos A Camargo",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5071-7654"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Andres Cardenas",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2284-3298"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5,
        6
      ],
      "name": "Elena Colicino"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Dana Dabelea",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9514-8929"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        8
      ],
      "name": "Suman R Das",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2496-9724"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        9,
        10
      ],
      "name": "Rebecca C Fry",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0899-9018"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        11
      ],
      "name": "Jia Guo"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        12
      ],
      "name": "Luhang Han",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8617-4172"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        13,
        14
      ],
      "name": "Christine W Hockett",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1665-6763"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        15
      ],
      "name": "Margaret R Karagas"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        16,
        17
      ],
      "name": "Janine M LaSalle"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        18
      ],
      "name": "Tengfei Ma"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        19,
        20
      ],
      "name": "Amy Margolis"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        21
      ],
      "name": "Grier Page"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Frederica P Perera"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        22
      ],
      "name": "Alicia K Peterson"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        23
      ],
      "name": "Sima K Ramratnam"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        24
      ],
      "name": "Annemarie Stroustrup"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        17,
        25
      ],
      "name": "Rebecca J Schmidt"
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    {
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        26,
        27
      ],
      "name": "Jennifer K Straughen"
    },
    {
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        28
      ],
      "name": "Kristina W Whitworth"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        11
      ],
      "name": "Shuang Wang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Julie B Herbstman"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/20nrw45wdjfq1.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1093/eep/dvag034",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13717455",
  "id": "20nrw45wdjfq1",
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    "2058-5888"
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  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42959478",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "AcademicSubjects/SCI02302"
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    [
      "heading",
      "Research Article"
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      "1312|Epigenetics and DNA Methylation"
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  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13717455?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13717455",
  "pmid": "42959478",
  "published": "2026-10-09",
  "publisher": "Oxford University Press",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/20nrw45wdjfq1.ris",
  "sources": [
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    {
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      "native_id": "PMC13717455",
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      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1093/eep/dvag034"
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  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biochemistry",
      "origin": "openalex:1312|Epigenetics and DNA Methylation",
      "subfield": "molecular-biology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "A methodology to identify a DNA methylation-based signature of prenatal air pollution exposure in the ECHO Cohort.",
  "title_text": "A methodology to identify a DNA methylation-based signature of prenatal air pollution exposure in the ECHO Cohort.",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-02T12:21:46Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/20nrw45wdjfq1",
  "venue": "Environmental epigenetics",
  "versions": []
}