Key result
Protocol evaluates water salinity and heat stress effects on blood pressure and kidney function.
Why the study?
Increasing salinity of groundwater is a global environmental health threat that may increase risk of water insecurity, dehydration, chronic kidney disease, and hypertension, but no health standards exist for salinity levels in drinking water.
Does exposure to drinking water salinity and heat stress worsen hydration, kidney function, and blood pressure in pastoralists living in a hot-arid environment?
Cohort (n=600)
Yes
Does exposure to drinking water salinity and heat stress worsen hydration, kidney function, and blood pressure in pastoralists living in a hot-arid environment?
This longitudinal study protocol will assess the poorly understood impact of drinking water salinity and heat stress on hypertension and kidney disease, aiming to inform dose-specific health standards for sodium-chloride in water.
Leaves open salinity and heat effects on kidney function and BP in pastoralists; ongoing cohort results needed before any clinical or policy implications.
INTRODUCTION: Increasing salinity of groundwater is a global environmental health threat that has been overlooked in human biology and may increase the risk of water insecurity, dehydration, chronic kidney disease (CKD), and hypertension in humans. However, no health standards exist for salinity levels in drinking water. This protocol paper describes the Daasanach Human Biology Project, which is testing how water salinity exposure and heat stress impact hydration, kidney disease, and blood pressure among Daasanach pastoralists in a hot-arid environment in northern Kenya. METHODS/DESIGN: This study expands the Daasanach Human Biology Project, an existing longitudinal study, to recruit 600 adults across approximately 450 households in 12 communities in Illeret Sub-County, Marsabit County, Kenya across six study waves. Data collection will occur seasonally during the wet (March-April) and dry (June-July) seasons. Household survey, anthropometric, dietary, doubly labeled water, point-of-care, lab-based biomarker, and water quality data will be collected to assess the impact of water salinity, heat stress, and other relevant exposures on health. Multi-level regression will be used to account for the longitudinal and nested nature of the data to determine how water salinity coupled with environmental exposures like heat impact hydration, kidney, and cardiometabolic function, and hypertension among Daasanach pastoralists. DISCUSSION: Exploring how water salinity in hot environments impacts human health can help uncover the environmental and social pathways to CKD and cardiovascular diseases facing populations around the world dealing with freshwater salinization. The data generated will provide dose-specific health standards for sodium-chloride in water.
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Rojas et al. (2026) conducted a cohort in Dehydration, chronic kidney disease (CKD), and hypertension (n=600). Water salinity and heat stress vs. Lower water salinity levels and communities with access to desalinated water was evaluated on Hydration status (urine specific gravity, water turnover), kidney function (eGFR, albuminuria), and blood pressure. Water salinity exposure and heat stress effects on hydration, kidney function, and blood pressure are being prospectively evaluated in this 3-year longitudinal study protocol, with no clinical results currently reported.
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