RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Neighborhood environment, social cohesion, and epigenetic aging
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2020.10.19.345777
DO 10.1101/2020.10.19.345777
A1 Chantel L. Martin
A1 Cavin K. Ward-Caviness
A1 Radhika Dhingra
A1 Tarek M. Zikry
A1 Sandro Galea
A1 Derek E. Wildman
A1 Karestan C. Koenen
A1 Monica Uddin
A1 Allison E Aiello
YR 2020
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/10/21/2020.10.19.345777.abstract
AB Living in adverse neighborhood environments have been linked to increased risk of aging-related diseases and mortality; however, the biological mechanisms explaining this observation remain poorly understood. DNA methylation (DNAm), a proposed biomarker of biological aging responsive to environmental stressors, offers promising insight into molecular pathways. We examined associations of three measures of neighborhood conditions (poverty, quality, and social cohesion) with three different epigenetic clocks (Horvath, Hannum, and Levine) using data from the Detroit Neighborhood Health Study (n=158). Using linear regression models, we evaluated associations in the total sample and stratified by gender and social cohesion. Differential effects by gender were found between men and women. Neighborhood poverty was associated with PhenoAge acceleration among women, but not among men (women: β = 1.4; 95% CI: −0.4, 3.3 vs. men: β = −0.3; 95% CI: −2.2, 1.5) in fully adjusted models. In models stratified on social cohesion, association of neighborhood poverty and quality with accelerated DNAm aging remained elevated for residents living in neighborhoods with lower social cohesion, but were null for those living in neighborhoods with higher social cohesion. Our study suggests that living in adverse neighborhood conditions can speed up epigenetic aging, while positive neighborhood characteristics may buffer effects.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.