The relationship between neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation and telomere length: The 1999–2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Abstract

Socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods have been associated with poor health outcomes. Little is known about the biological mechanism by which deprived neighborhood conditions exert negative influences on health. Data from the 1999–2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) were used to assess the relationship between neighborhood deprivation index (NDI) and log-transformed leukocyte telomere length (LTL) via multilevel modeling to control for census tract level clustering. Models were constructed using tertiles of NDI (ref = low NDI). NDI was calculated using census tract level socioeconomic indicators from the 2000 U.S. Census. The sample (n = 5,106 adults) was 49.8% female and consisted of 82.9% non-Hispanic whites, 9.4% non-Hispanic blacks, and 7.6% Mexican Americans. Mean age was 45.8 years. Residents of neighborhoods with high NDI were younger, non-white, had lower educational attainment, and had a lower poverty to income ratio (all p < 0.0001). Neighborhood deprivation was inversely associated with LTL among individuals living in neighborhoods with medium NDI (β = −0.043, SE = 0.012, p = 0.0005) and high NDI (β = −0.039, SE = 0.013, p = 0.003). Among men, both medium (β = −0.042, SE = 0.015, p = 0.006) and high (β = −0.047, SE = 0.015, p = 0.001) NDI were associated with shorter LTL. Among women, only medium NDI (β = −0.020, SE = 0.016, p = 0.009) was associated with shorter LTL. After controlling for individual characteristics, including individual-level socioeconomic status, increasing neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation is associated with shorter LTL among a nationally representative sample of US adults. This suggests that telomere shortening may be a mechanism through which neighborhood deprivation results in poor health outcomes.

Chronic Stress-Related Neural Activity Associates With Subclinical Cardiovascular Disease in a Community-Based Cohort: Data From the Washington, D.C. Cardiovascular Health and Needs Assessment

“…United States Census Bureau data from the 2010 American Community Survey was used to create a Neighborhood Deprivation Index (NDI) for census tracts in Washington, D.C. and Maryland, as previously described ( 25 ). Briefly, key variables were identified via principal axis factoring with oblique rotation (minimum loading score 0.40; minimum eigenvalue 1).…”

Health Disparities in COVID-19: Addressing the Role of Social Determinants of Health in Immune System Dysfunction to Turn the Tide

“…Leukocyte telomere length has been linked to immune cell dysfunction, various chronic diseases ( 60 ), and psychosocial stress [as summarized in ( 61 )]; telomere length has been suggested as a new tool for immunoepigenetics ( 62 ). A recent study from our lab using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey demonstrated that living in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods associated with shorter leukocyte telomere length among U.S. adults, indicating the potential impact of adverse neighborhood conditions on immune cells ( 63 ). It is important to note that leukocyte telomere length has also been reported to have inconclusive results for some diseases ( 64 ) and certainly warrants future research as racial/ethnic differences have been shown when comparing telomere length and/or telomere shortening rate of Blacks to those of Whites ( 65 – 67 ).…”

Family Socioeconomic Status and Exposure to Childhood Trauma: Racial Differences

“…Childhood trauma also increases the risk of respiratory, heart, and metabolic diseases [ 13 ]. Childhood trauma deteriorates health through various mechanisms such as systemic inflammation [ 14 ], reducing telomere length [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ], and DNA methylation [ 19 , 20 , 21 ]. Exposure to childhood trauma also impacts the developing brain [ 22 ].…”