Table 1. Summary of major research gaps and needs for evidence on health outcomes.

Health Topic	Major Gaps and Needs Identified
Cancer	• Determine the risk from coal-related HAP exposure on cancer of organ systems other than the lung.• Assess the risk from biomass-related HAP exposure for cancer of the lung, upper airway, and other organ systems.• Investigate whether risk is mediated via germline, somatic, or epigenetic changes and whether there is a developmental window of susceptibility.
Infections	• Carry out population-based studies to determine the impact on important infectious diseases, including TB and malaria (the latter via effects of smoke on biting and disease transmission), and the impacts of interventions.• Extend the experience of the RESPIRE study on acute child pneumonia to other populations and cultures and determine etiology (pathogens) and exposure–response relationships more precisely.• Leverage existing epidemiologic studies investigating pneumonia and the impacts of new vaccines by adding HAP exposure assessment.
Cardiovascular disease	• Use short- and longer-term observational studies (including those leveraging existing cohorts) and intervention studies to determine the risk of completed cardiovascular outcomes, indicators of disease process (e.g., ECG findings), and risk (e.g., blood pressure, lipid levels, inflammatory biomarkers).• Determine the role of HAP in the developmental origins of CVD through long-term cohort studies.
Maternal, neonatal, and child health	• Strengthen existing evidence on pregnancy outcomes (pre-term birth, IUGR, stillbirth), with assessment of gestational age and vulnerable periods of exposure during pregnancy.• Investigate the risk of severe infection in neonates and young infants.• Strengthen emerging evidence on child growth and cognitive development to 5–7 years of age.• Determine the risk of HAP exposure for the main causes of maternal mortality and morbidity.• Establish long-term cohorts to study the role of early HAP exposure and associated mechanisms (including epigenetic) in the developmental origins of later childhood and adult disease.
Respiratory disease	• Use cohort studies and clinical trials to determine the roles of HAP in both causation and exacerbation of asthma in children.• Assess the impacts of HAP exposure reduction on the rate of lung function decline over the medium term (e.g., 5 years) in young/middle-aged women.• Describe the risks of HAP exposure in pregnancy and early life for lung development, asthma, and COPD.
Burns	• Enhance surveillance and population-based evidence on the causes, incidence and mortality, disability, and longer-term social impacts of burn injuries.• Assess the impact of safety testing of new stoves.• Determine the value of prevention strategies on morbidity and mortality related to burn injuries or accidental poisoning (e.g., with kerosene) from cooking, heating, and lighting.
Ocular disorders	• Extend the evidence on cataracts in men and in exposed populations outside of India.• Ensure better control of potentially serious confounding in studies of cataract (e.g., smoking, UV light exposure, nutrition).• Strengthen tentative evidence on risk for other important ocular disorders, such as trachoma.• Investigate the motivational potential of reduced eye symptoms (tearing, irritation) for intervention programs.

CVD, cardiovascular disease; ECG, electrocardiogram; IUGR, intrauterine growth restriction; TB, tuberculosis; UV, ultraviolet.