Racial inequalities in healthy aging have been well-documented. Compared to White Americans, Black Americans experience illness and death at early ages and show steeper age-related declines in health. Our neighborhoods, as the site of where we live, learn, play, and pray, may serve as a powerful source of these racial inequalities. Racial residential segregation (which is the sorting of different racial groups into different neighborhoods through historical and current discriminatory policies and practices) has resulted in a racially unequal American neighborhood landscape. Neighborhoods with mostly Black residents experience more poverty, civic and commercial disinvestment, and more exposure to environmental hazards compared to neighborhoods with mostly White residents. While more researchers are documenting the role of neighborhoods in health inequalities, we may actually be underestimating the true impact of neighborhood context, because we often focus on specific health outcomes, such as cardiovascular disease or diabetes. However, there are likely shared biological mechanisms within the body that drive many of these diseases ? and one such mechanism may be changes to our genomic structure, called epigenomics. While our genes do not change, the environment can have an impact on whether our genes are actually ?expressed?. We will determine whether the accumulation of adulthood lived experience in racially-segregated neighborhoods is related to epigenomic patterns called DNA methylation. We will also specifically determine whether the accumulation of adulthood exposure to neighborhood industrial air pollution and disadvantage together are related to these patterns of DNA methylation. Finally, we will determine whether the DNA methylation patterns we see are related to racial inequalities in healthy aging. We hypothesize that racially-segregation Black neighborhoods, with their greater levels of industrial air pollution and social disadvantage, will be related to the types of patterns in DNA methylation that have been shown to be related to chronic diseases in molecular studies. In fact, we further hypothesize that these patterns in DNA methylation will be related to racial inequalities in cognitive function and the number of chronic diseases one has had. Clarifying the role of neighborhood context in racial inequalities in healthy aging is critical, as neighborhoods are not naturally- occurring. They develop and change through policies and are amenable to intervention. Identifying the role of DNA methylation that likely underlies many chronic diseases, will clarify the importance of neighborhoods and point to potential effective interventions.

Public Health Relevance

Racial inequalities in healthy aging are well-known and neighborhoods, where we live, learn, play, and pray, has emerged as a potentially powerful driver of these health inequalities. We will determine whether neighborhood social stressors and environmental hazards are, in combination, linked to racial inequalities in the molecular underpinnings of numerous chronic diseases of aging. The results of this study will highlight the role of neighborhoods as a potentially effective point of intervention to eliminate racial health inequalities.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01MD013299-02
Application #
9763639
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1)
Program Officer
Rajapakse, Nishadi
Project Start
2018-08-14
Project End
2023-03-31
Budget Start
2019-04-01
Budget End
2020-03-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2019
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Michigan Ann Arbor
Department
Biostatistics & Other Math Sci
Type
Organized Research Units
DUNS #
073133571
City
Ann Arbor
State
MI
Country
United States
Zip Code
48109