# DNA methylation in context: Racial inequities in social adversity and vulnerability to the health impact of air pollution

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2024 · $597,155

## Abstract

Black-White inequities in healthy aging are well-known with Black adults experiencing greater risk of
developing and earlier onset of chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease (CVD), hypertension, and
diabetes compared to White adults. Neighborhood context has emerged as a potentially powerful determinant
of racial inequities in aging-related health conditions, including cognitive decline, and may be a key intervention
site. Neighborhoods include both social and environmental exposures important for healthy aging. Evidence
indicates stark racial inequities in exposure to segregated, under-resourced but over-surveilled and polluted
neighborhoods. Pollution and aspects of social adversity are often correlated and may operate cumulatively to
result in racial health inequities. Importantly, however, these chemical (i.e. pollution) and non-chemical (i.e.,
social adversity) stressors may act synergistically, whereby exposure to social adversity can heighten
vulnerability to the deleterious health impact of even low levels of pollution. Yet, the environmental and social
science literatures – even the environmental and social epidemiology literatures – are largely separate. There
is a pressing need to integrate the study of these exposures given their likely cumulative and synergistic effects
on racial health inequities in order to direct effective interventions and policies. In addition to the gaps in our
knowledge about the combined impact of chemical and non-chemical stressors on racial inequities in healthy
aging, there is a need to focus on outcomes that may serve as biological pathways to numerous diseases.
Research on either pollution or social adversity has tended to focus on specific health outcomes. Focus on a
single disease may underestimate the overall health impact of these racially unequal exposures. It is critical to
clarify the shared biological mechanisms that underlie numerous chronic diseases to understand the full impact
of pollution and social adversity on racial health inequities. A growing literature points to the importance of
epigenetic factors, particularly DNA methylation, linking socioenvironmental context to health. Indeed, it may
be that epigenetic processes are an important mechanism through which inequities in both air pollution and
social adversity are embodied. Our objective is to identify underlying DNA methylation mechanisms linking
neighborhood segregation and ambient and industrial air pollution and social adversity to measures of healthy
aging. Clarifying the role of neighborhood in racial health inequities is critical, as neighborhoods are amenable
to intervention. Identifying the role of DNA methylation patterns reflecting racial segregation, including chemical
and non-chemical stressors, can point to specific disease etiologies and causal mechanisms effective
interventions to eliminate racial inequities in healthy aging.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10833574
- **Project number:** 5R01AG074887-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** Margaret Takako Hicken
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $597,155
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-07-15 → 2026-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10833574

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10833574, DNA methylation in context: Racial inequities in social adversity and vulnerability to the health impact of air pollution (5R01AG074887-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10833574. Licensed CC0.

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