Assessing the Effect of Cool Roofs on Health Using Smartwatches

NCT06579963 | Active Not Recruiting DMC

• 2 other identifiers: 3728163226745/Z/22/Z
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 800
• Locations: 4 countries
• Sites: 4

Brief Summary

Ambient air temperatures in Asian, Latin American, African, and Pacific climate hotspots have broken record highs in 2024. Solutions are needed to build heat resilience in communities and adapt to increasing heat from climate change. Sunlight-reflecting cool roof coatings may 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 susceptible to increased heat exposure. Heat exposure can instigate and worsen numerous physical, mental and social health conditions. The worst adverse health effects are experienced in communities that are least able to adapt to heat exposure. By reducing indoor temperatures, cool roof application may improve heart health, sleep and physical activity in household occupants. The long-term research goal is to identify viable passive housing adaptation technologies with proven health benefits to reduce the burden of heat stress in communities affected by heat globally. To meet this goal, the investigators will use smartwatches to measure the effects cool roof application on heart health, sleep and physical activity in four urban climate hotspots: Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; Hermosillo, Mexico; Ahmedabad, India; and Niue, Oceania.

Conditions

Vigorous-intensity Activity Duration; Time in Sleep Stages; Awake Duration; Sleep Score; Heart Rate; All-day Steps; Distance Walked; Active Minutes; Moderate-intensity Activity Minutes; Sleep Quantity

Keywords

Hot Temperature; Humidity; Housing; Wearable; Smartwatch; Heart rate; Cardiovascular; Physical activity; Sleep; Cool roof; Heat stress

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Heart rate

  Heart rate in beats per minute measured at 15-second intervals using Garmin Vivosmart 5 devices.

  Smartwatches will be worn for two consecutive weeks per month. Eight measurement points will be taken: one at baseline and seven over 12 months, covering three consecutive hottest months and four alternate months.

Secondary Outcomes (9)

• All-day steps

  Smartwatches will be worn for two consecutive weeks per month. Eight measurement points will be taken: one at baseline and seven over 12 months, covering three consecutive hottest months and four alternate months.

• Active minutes

  Smartwatches will be worn for two consecutive weeks per month. Eight measurement points will be taken: one at baseline and seven over 12 months, covering three consecutive hottest months and four alternate months.

• Distance walked

  Smartwatches will be worn for two consecutive weeks per month. Eight measurement points will be taken: one at baseline and seven over 12 months, covering three consecutive hottest months and four alternate months.

• Moderate-intensity activity minutes

  MeasuSmartwatches will be worn for two consecutive weeks per month. Eight measurement points will be taken: one at barements will be taken continuously for 12 months. Participants will be asked to wear their smartwatch for at least two weeks every month.

• Vigorous-intensity activity duration

  Smartwatches will be worn for two consecutive weeks per month. Eight measurement points will be taken: one at baseline and seven over 12 months, covering three consecutive hottest months and four alternate months.

Study Arms (2)

Cool roof

EXPERIMENTAL

Households will receive sunlight reflecting 'cool roof' coating on their roofs.

Other: Cool roof

No cool roof

NO INTERVENTION

No cool roof application. Households will keep their original roofing for the duration of the trial.

Interventions

Cool roof OTHER

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).

Cool roof

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Permanent household resident

You may not qualify if:

• Roof damage, inaccessible or instability of roof adversely affecting cool roof coating application.
• Participant unable to provide written/verbal informed consent. Participants will be excluded if they are not willing or able to wear a smartwatch.
• In Mexico and Niue, participants will be excluded if they do not have a smartphone with an internet connection that can connect to the smartwatch.
• Only one participant per household.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Aditi Bunker: lead
• Sika Services AG: collaborator
• SOPREMA: collaborator
• Engineered Polymer Solutions (EPS B.V.): collaborator
• Resene: collaborator
• Pacific Community: collaborator
• Habitat for Humanity: collaborator
• The Tindall Foundation: collaborator
• Labfront: collaborator
• Instituto Tecnológico de Hermosillo: collaborator
• University of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso: collaborator
• Indian Institute of Public Health, India: collaborator
• Boston University: collaborator
• Rutgers University: collaborator
• London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine: collaborator
• Heidelberg University: collaborator

Study Sites (4)

University Joseph Ki-Zerbo

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Location

Indian Institute of Public Health Gandhinagar

Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, India

Location

Instituto Tecnológico de Hermosillo

Hermosillo, Sanora, Mexico

Location

Niue

Alofi, Niue

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Motor Activity; Heat Stress Disorders

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior; Wounds and Injuries

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: DOUBLE
• Who Masked: INVESTIGATOR, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Masking Details: Trial participants will be aware of the intervention to which they have been allocated, and the research fieldworkers will be aware of the intervention allocation. The trial steering committee members and trial statistician will remain blinded until the end of trial period and data collection.
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Co-Principal Investigator

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 28, 2024
• First Posted: August 30, 2024
• Study Start: September 4, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): September 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): September 1, 2027
• Last Updated: February 27, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-02

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP, ICF, CSR
• Time Frame: At the time of publication.

Locations

BU (1); ME (1); IN (1); NI (1)