2024: Climate-Sensitive Risk Assessment for Targeted Prevention of Cardiometabolic Diseases (Environmental Defense Fund)
Prevalence of cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs) has risen steadily over the past 30 years, now accounting for over 30% of deaths worldwide. Risk factors include genetics, patient behavior, and environmental exposure. Climate-associated exposures – such as air pollution, extreme heat, natural disasters, and climate migration – have emerged as major concerns for cardiometabolic health. This project will create new climate vulnerability indices that are specific to CMDs, such as kidney disease, atherosclerosis, and heart failure. We will utilize a dataset of over 1.3 million patients from the Houston Methodist Health System to develop CMD-specific indices that can accurately predict negative health outcomes related to CMDs based on climate and weather factors.
Cornell: Arnab Ghosh (Weill Cornell), Khurram Nasir (Weill Cornell and Houston Methodist), Sadeer Al-Kindi (Weill Cornell and Houston Methodist)
EDF: Grace Lewis