# Assessing The Impact of Neighborhood and Interpersonal Discrimination on Obesity and Leukocyte Gene Expression

> **NIH NIH R01** · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $556,373

## Abstract

Abstract
Obesity has been a persistent public health issue for decades. People with obesity experience higher risk of
chronic diseases, such as diabetes, chronic kidney disease, hypertension, coronary heart disease, and stroke.
Approximately 42% of adults in the United States (US) currently have obesity, with a disproportionately high
prevalence among Black Americans. Yet, we still have an inadequate understanding of the etiology of obesity
and the drivers of obesity disparities. Discrimination has been implicated as an obesogenic risk factor.
Discrimination is understood as a multidimensional construct that operate at multiple levels and in different
social contexts. Yet, the association between multiple forms of discrimination and adiposity is not well
understood. It also remains understudied the cellular-level processes for how discrimination “gets under the
skin” to produce physiological dysregulation. Defining the relationship between multiple forms of discrimination
and adiposity and molecular markers of inflammation will provide the foundation for increasing the efficacy of
prevention efforts and treatment to reduce obesity and Black-White obesity disparities. Using the data from
three large, population-based cohort studies—the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health,
Midlife in the United States, and Health and Retirement Study—we will first assess the associations between
multiple forms of discrimination (i.e., neighborhood and interpersonal) with adiposity markers (i.e., body mass
index and waist circumference). We will then assess the association between multiple forms of discrimination
with downstream changes in cellular gene expression of inflammation, identify cellular and molecular
mechanisms involved, and quantify the extent to gene expression mediate the relationship between
discrimination and adiposity. We will also quantify the extent to which discrimination explain racial disparities in
adiposity and gene expression. Lastly, we will evaluate the moderating effect of social integration on the
associations between discrimination and adiposity and gene expression. The project will lay the groundwork for
future studies to assess the association between discrimination and other age-related outcomes and inform
interventions that can be developed to reduce disparities in health.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10877367
- **Project number:** 1R01DK137246-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Adolfo Cuevas
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $556,373
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-04-01 → 2028-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10877367

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10877367, Assessing The Impact of Neighborhood and Interpersonal Discrimination on Obesity and Leukocyte Gene Expression (1R01DK137246-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10877367. Licensed CC0.

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