Measuring stress and epigenetic aging among Black older adults in community-based longitudinal studies of aging

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PROJECT SUMMARY Stress is a fundamental pathway to race/ethnic variation in health and aging. Black older adults experience more stressors over their life course and age faster than other groups as evidenced by earlier onset of most diseases and declines in biological, physical and cognitive functioning. One of the underlying mechanisms connecting stress to multiple age-related diseases is epigenetic changes, now termed one of the “hallmarks of aging.” Large, diverse national data sets have invested time and money in collecting DNA methylation (DNAm)—a common measure of epigenetic changes—in multiethnic samples, providing mechanistic insights into an individual’s molecular response to environmental stressors that underlie disease processes and inform our understanding of the biological processes through which social disparities in health manifest. Integrating epigenetics into population-level race-based health disparities research is important given the unequal, and rapid aging of racial/ethnic minority populations and the huge investment in DNAm across different study designs, race/ethnic groups, ancestries, and at different ages. The proposed project compares the stress, anthropometric, biological, and epigenetic age profiles of Black and African ancestry older adults across age cohorts (young-old and long-lived) in both the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the Study of Longevity and Stress in African American Families (SOLSAA). Sitting at the cusp of the genomic data revolution, this proposal will ensure I get the training I need as a biosocial gerontologist to work independently with social stress, biosocial, and epigenetic data across distinct data sets of older Black adults and fulfill the objectives outlined in this proposal. Through the K01 Career Development Award, I will combine my extensive experience studying race/ethnic disparities in stress and aging and will gain additional training in molecular biology, bioinformatics, epidemiology, epigenetic mechanisms, bioethics and professional development. San Diego State University School of Public Health is an ideal location to receive the skills needed during the training phase given the multidisciplinary nature and close connection with UCSD through joint doctoral programs, the Stein Institute of Aging, and San Diego Alzheimer’s Disease Resource Center as well as availability of coursework, and mentorship from leaders in genetic epidemiology, social genomics, and bioinformatics. Completion of the training and research aims will result in scientific presentations and publications, preliminary data to successfully compete for R01 funding that integrates longitudinal DNAm data (currently being collected) in diverse, longitudinal cohort studies of aging with life course stress and longitudinal health outcomes. This project will improve measures of aging in Black communities, providing a more accurate picture of the aging experience. This study will also support a paradigm shift in aging research, combining medical frameworks with Black centered social frameworks that challenge racialized narratives of health, improve our understanding of aging, and support insight for the planning of aging resources among Black populations.