A study, led by Dr. Parveen Bhatti’s group, is investigating the influence of the built environment on sleep disruption in the BC Generations Project (BCGP). Dr. Bhatti is the Director of the BCGP, which is a cohort of nearly 30,000 BC participants who volunteer their health information and biological samples to help researchers learn more about how environment, lifestyle and genes contribute to chronic diseases and healthy aging. In a recent analysis, they evaluated geospatial measures of light-at-night (LAN), greenness, air pollution (PM2.5, NO2, SO2), and road proximity in association with self-reported sleep disruption. They found that increased LAN, SO2 and main road proximity were each, independently associated with lower durations of sleep while increased greenness was independently associated with higher durations of sleep. Next, the researchers plan to look at the impact of built environment on grip strength and bone density, as markers of healthy aging, that were obtained for a large portion of BCGP participants.
Members involved: Dr. Parveen Bhatti
Recent Publications:
- Parks J., Baghela M., Bhatti P. Examining the influence of built environment on sleep disruption. Environmental Epidemiology (in press).