# Residential Segregation and Physiological Dysregulation among Black CARDIA participants: A Longitudinal Study

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIV OF MASSACHUSETTS MED SCH WORCESTER · 2024 · $824,284

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Although research linking race-based residential segregation to health outcomes has been conducted for
decades, there is currently a lack of understanding of how exposure to residential segregation affects the
universal aging process that underlies development of chronic disease. Our long-term goal is to understand how
a fundamental cause of racial health disparities, residential segregation, leads to physiologic dysregulation
through examination of modifiable causal pathways. The overall objectives of this application are (i) to measure
the association between residential segregation and age acceleration over the adult life course; and (ii) identify
the mechanisms through which living in a segregated neighborhood affects age acceleration. The central
hypothesis is that exposure to residential segregation over the adult life course is associated with worse (higher)
clinical marker-derived age acceleration, a marker of stress-related cumulative physiological dysregulation. The
rationale for this project is that our findings may strengthen the evidence base for policy recommendations by
demonstrating that structural factors harm the universal aging process, making equity important for all of society.
The central hypothesis will be tested by pursuing three specific aims: 1) Determine the relationship of
exposure to levels of residential segregation and age acceleration in adulthood in Black CARDIA
participants; 2) Identify neighborhood-level mediators of the relationship between residential
segregation and age acceleration; and 3) Using a life-course lens, determine if timing and length of
exposure to residential segregation affects its relationship with age acceleration. For the first aim mixed
effects growth models and parallel process growth models will be used to measure the relationship between
residential segregation and age acceleration. The second aim will use structural equation modeling to determine
if neighborhood SDOH mediates the influence of living in residentially segregated neighborhoods and increased
age acceleration. The third aim will use path analysis to test the pathways hypothesized through each life course
model. The research proposed is innovative because 1) it will be the first attempt to link structural factors to our
novel measure of accelerated biological aging, and 2) it focuses on untangling how residential segregation works
to harm health over the adult life course. The proposed research is significant because research shows structural
racism and its downstream consequences, termed the social determinants of health (SDOH), produce racial
disparities in health outcomes but far less work has examined how structural racism affects the aging process
that is the basis for many chronic diseases (e.g., cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, hypertension, stroke). Even
less work has examined how the timing of exposure to structural and social determinants of health (S/SDOH)
during the life course affects a...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10944037
- **Project number:** 1R01HL175599-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF MASSACHUSETTS MED SCH WORCESTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Sarah N Forrester
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $824,284
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-07-01 → 2029-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10944037

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10944037, Residential Segregation and Physiological Dysregulation among Black CARDIA participants: A Longitudinal Study (1R01HL175599-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10944037. Licensed CC0.

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