Assessing the Effects of Cool Roofs on Indoor Environments and Health
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: Cool roof.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Resting Heart Rate, Blood Glucose Control, Depression, Heat-related Symptoms. Basic parameters: from 18 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- Burkina Faso, Fiji, India, Mexico, Niue
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
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Official title
The Effects of Cool Roofs on Health, Environmental, and Economic Outcomes: a Global Multi-center Cluster-randomized Controlled Trial
Overview
Ambient air temperatures in Asian, Latin American, African, and Pacific climate hotspots have broken record highs in 2024, driven by man-made climate change. Solutions are needed to reduce heat exposure in communities. Sunlight-reflecting cool roof coatings passively reduce indoor temperatures and energy use to protect home occupants from extreme heat. Occupants living in poor housing conditions globally - for example in informal settlements, slums, and low-socioeconomic households - are especially vulnerable to increased indoor heat exposure. Heat exposure can instigate and worsen numerous physical, mental and social health conditions. The worst adverse health effects are being experienced in communities least able to adapt to heat exposure. By reducing indoor temperatures, cool roof use can promote physical, mental and social wellbeing in occupants. The long-term research goal is to identify viable passive housing adaptation technologies with proven health and environmental benefits to reduce the burden of heat stress in communities affected by heat globally. To meet this goal, the investigators will conduct a cluster-randomized controlled trial to establish the effects of cool roof use on health, indoor environment and economic outcomes in five urban climate hotspots: Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; Colima, Mexico; Ahmedabad, India; Niue; and Tavua, Fiji.
Detailed description
Increasing heat exposure from climate change is causing and exacerbating heat-related illnesses in millions worldwide - particularly in low resource settings. June 2024 was the 13th consecutive hottest month on record globally - shattering previous records. Heat exposure can instigate and worsen health conditions including cardiovascular, metabolic, endocrine and respiratory disease, heat-related illnesses, pregnancy complications, and mental health conditions. Adaptation is essential for protecting people from increasing heat exposure. The built environment, especially our homes, are ideal for deploying interventions to reduce heat exposure and accelerate adaptation efforts. However, currently there is a lack of evidence on a global scale - generated through empirical studies - guiding the uptake of interventions to reduce heat stress in low resource settings.
Sunlight-reflecting cool roof coatings passively reduce indoor temperatures and lower energy use, offering protection to home occupants from extreme heat. The investigators aim to conduct a global multi-centre cluster-randomized controlled trial investigating the effects of cool-roof use on health, environmental and economic outcomes in five urban climate hotspots - Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (sub-Saharan Africa), Ahmedabad, India (Asia), Tavua, Fiji and Niue (Oceania), and Colima, Mexico (Latin America). The sites represent hotspots where people experience a triple burden from heat exposure, chronic health issues and vulnerable housing conditions (slums, informal settlements and low socioeconomic housing). They also exhibit diversity in climate profiles, housing typology, level of socioeconomic development, population density and rates of urbanisation.
The trial will quantify whether cool roofs are an effective passive home cooling intervention with beneficial health effects for vulnerable populations in four locations. Findings will inform global policy responses on scaling cool roof implementation to protect people from increasing heat exposure driven by climate change.
Interventions
- Other Cool roof
Cool roofs are a sunlight reflecting roof coating that can reduce indoor temperature. Cool roofs have high solar reflectance (reflecting the ultraviolet and visible wavelengths of sunlight, reducing heat transfer to the surface of a roof) and high thermal emittance (radiating absorbed solar energy).
Primary outcome measures
- Resting heart rate [Time frame: Eight measurements will be taken: one at baseline and seven over 12 months, covering three consecutive hottest months and four alternate months.]
- Blood glucose control [Time frame: Two measurements will be taken: one at baseline and one in the last month of three consecutive hottest months.]
- Depression [Time frame: Eight measurements will be taken: one at baseline and seven over 12 months, covering three consecutive hottest months and four alternate months.]
Secondary outcome measures (12)
- Heat-related symptoms [Time frame: Eight measurements will be taken: one at baseline and seven over 12 months, covering three consecutive hottest months and four alternate months.]
- Physician diagnosed heat-related illnesses [Time frame: Eight measurements will be taken: one at baseline and seven over 12 months, covering three consecutive hottest months and four alternate months.]
- Food insecurity [Time frame: Eight measurements will be taken: one at baseline and seven over 12 months, covering three consecutive hottest months and four alternate months.]
- Diet quality [Time frame: Eight measurements will be taken: one at baseline and seven over 12 months, covering three consecutive hottest months and four alternate months.]
- Health-related quality of life [Time frame: Eight measurements will be taken: one at baseline and seven over 12 months, covering three consecutive hottest months and four alternate months.]
- Indoor thermal comfort [Time frame: Eight measurements will be taken: one at baseline and seven over 12 months, covering three consecutive hottest months and four alternate months.]
- Coping ability [Time frame: Eight measurements will be taken: one at baseline and seven over 12 months, covering three consecutive hottest months and four alternate months.]
- Life satisfaction [Time frame: Eight measurements will be taken: one at baseline and seven over 12 months, covering three consecutive hottest months and four alternate months.]
- Healthcare provider utilization [Time frame: Eight measurements will be taken: one at baseline and seven over 12 months, covering three consecutive hottest months and four alternate months.]
- Hospitalization [Time frame: Eight measurements will be taken: one at baseline and seven over 12 months, covering three consecutive hottest months and four alternate months.]
- Systolic Blood Pressure [Time frame: Eight measurements will be taken: one at baseline and seven over 12 months, covering the three consecutive hottest months and four alternate months.]
- Diastolic Blood Pressure [Time frame: Eight measurements will be taken: one at baseline and seven over 12 months, covering the three consecutive hottest months and four alternate months.]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- Permanent household resident.
Exclusion criteria
- Roof damage, inaccessible or instability of roof adversely affecting cool roof coating application.
- Participant unable to provide written/verbal informed consent.
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: Yes
Study design
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Model
- Parallel assignment
- Masking
- Double blind
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
Study locations
Burkina Faso · 1 center
- University Joseph Ki-Zerbo — Ouagadougou
Fiji · 1 center
- Fiji National University — Suva
India · 1 center
- Indian Institute of Public Health Gandhinagar — Ahmedabad
Mexico · 1 center
- Instituto Tecnológico de Hermosillo — Hermosillo
Niue · 1 center
- Niue — Alofi
Identifiers
NCT: NCT06579950 · 3728162 · 226745/Z/22/Z