# Childhood and Adult Psychosocial Stress and the Association with Disparities in Adult Cardiometabolic Health

> **NIH NIH U01** · HARVARD UNIVERSITY D/B/A HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH · 2022 · $98,113

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Life-course epidemiology directs attention to the connection between childhood experiences and
adult health, and increasing research indicates that many of the most burdensome chronic diseases
globally are rooted in childhood. Research shows adults who experience four or more types of
adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) (i.e., potentially traumatic events or aspects of a child’s
environment that undermine their sense of safety and stability) have roughly twice the odds of obesity
and cardiovascular disease — and even greater odds for high-risk health behaviors—relative to
adults who did not experience adversity in childhood. This relation is burgeoning and remains under-
explored among different age groups, socio-economic status (SES), and race/ethnicities. In addition
to ACEs, stressors experienced as an adult have been linked to increased risk of poor health
outcomes. Also, SES and non-white race have been associated with higher ACE prevalence as well
as increased presence of risk factors for cardiometabolic disease. However, less is known about how
cumulative stress (i.e., the combination of adult, acute, and chronic stressors) influences
cardiometabolic disease risk over a period of time. The “Integrating Lifecourse Approaches,
Biological, and Digital Phenotyping in Support of Heart and Lung Disease Epidemiologic Research”
parent grant focuses on strengthening infrastructure necessary to collect data on traditional and
emerging risk factors for heart and lung diseases. The goal of the proposed supplemental research is
to translate the activities of the parent grant and identify early life risk factors – and their interplay with
other psychosocial stressors experienced in adulthood -- in multiple generations for cardiometabolic
disease, ultimately supporting work towards reducing these risk factors among high-risk populations.
As such, the research aims are as follows: (Aim1) To Investigate racial/ethnic and
geographic/demographic predictors of childhood psychosocial stress – and their interactions with
socio-economic status (SES) – among adult women; (Aim2) To identify how ACEs combine with adult
experiences of stress to predict cardiometabolic disease and examine the extent to which cumulative
stress contributes to racial disparities in the risk factors of cardiometabolic disease; and (Aim3) To
understand contextual factors that might reduce or exacerbate the association between psychosocial
stressors and cardiometabolic outcomes, through smartphone digital phenotyping and the collection
and analysis of geospatial datasets. The proposed supplemental research has important public health
implications.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10478317
- **Project number:** 3U01HL145386-04S1
- **Recipient organization:** HARVARD UNIVERSITY D/B/A HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
- **Principal Investigator:** Jorge Eduardo Chavarro
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $98,113
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2019-02-08 → 2026-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10478317

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10478317, Childhood and Adult Psychosocial Stress and the Association with Disparities in Adult Cardiometabolic Health (3U01HL145386-04S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10478317. Licensed CC0.

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