# Associations of Neighborhood Green Space and Social Disadvantage with Stress-Sensitive Inflammatory Biomarkers

> **NIH NIH F31** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $46,036

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major public health concern that affected 41% of the United States population
and cost $555 billion in medical spending and lost productivity in 2016. Prevention strategies that intervene on
social determinants of health, such as neighborhood environmental characteristics, are one approach to
decreasing the growing burden of CVD. Neighborhood green spaces, including parks, recreational areas, and
vegetation, are modifiable and important neighborhood factors have been associated with lower CVD risk and
better physiologic outcomes. Green spaces may protect against CVD by mitigating stress through physical
activity, relaxation, and positive social interactions that reduce individuals’ exposure to stressful social conditions.
Neighborhood social disadvantage, measured as neighborhood psychosocial hazards comprised of social
disorganization, safety, physical disorder, and economic deprivation, likely provokes a stress response that may
lead to hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenocortical (HPA) axis dysfunction with regular exposure. Psychosocial
hazards have been associated with increased CVD risk and higher levels of stress sensitive pro-inflammatory
biomarkers. The health benefits of neighborhood green space suggest it may serve as a potential resilience
factor against neighborhood social disadvantage. The proposed cross-sectional study will examine associations
among neighborhood green space, neighborhood social disadvantage, and stress sensitive pro-inflammatory
biomarkers in a sample of 624 urban-dwelling, middle-aged and older adults. This study is a secondary data
analysis of the Baltimore Memory Study, a cohort study that investigated determinants of cognitive decline in
1,140 Baltimore City residents ages 50 to 70-year-old from 65 contiguous city neighborhoods (R01 AG19604,
PI: B. Schwartz). Study data will be paired with satellite maps of vegetated land cover from the United States
Geological Service to measure green space. The specific aims of the proposed study are to test: (1) the
association between neighborhood green space and stress sensitive pro-inflammatory biomarkers; (2) the
association between neighborhood social disadvantage and stress sensitive pro-inflammatory biomarkers; and
(3) whether neighborhood green space modifies the association between neighborhood social disadvantage and
stress sensitive pro-inflammatory biomarkers. These findings may help clarify the role of neighborhood green
spaces as a modifiable neighborhood resilience factor that can be targeted for community-level interventions to
reduce CVD risk. This proposed study aligns with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s priorities to
investigate factors that account for differences in health among populations and to understand how
environmental exposures and social determinants modulate biological systems and promote resilience. The
proposed training plan is foundational to a program of research focused ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10083225
- **Project number:** 5F31HL146080-03
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Laken Camille Roberts
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $46,036
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-02-01 → 2021-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10083225

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10083225, Associations of Neighborhood Green Space and Social Disadvantage with Stress-Sensitive Inflammatory Biomarkers (5F31HL146080-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10083225. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*