SPH Receives $2 Million to Study Social Disadvantages and Cardiovascular Health Disparity

ALBANY, N.Y. (Nov. 8, 2022) – Kai Zhang from the Department of Environmental Health Sciences has received $2.17 million from the National Institute on Aging to study the underlying biological mechanisms between social determinants of health and cardiovascular disease (CVD), the leading cause of death in the U.S. that disproportionately affects Black communities.

“While social determinants of health have been linked to cardiovascular disease risk factors and clinical outcomes, the underlying biological mechanisms between social disadvantages and cardiovascular disease remain largely unknown,” Zhang explains. “Epigenetic processes represent a potential biological mediator between social determinants of health and CVD racial disparity.”

His study, a collaboration with Drs. Lifang Hou at Northwestern University and Lei Liu at Washington University in St. Louis, will address this knowledge gap using a social epigenetic approach to understand the impact of individual and neighborhood characteristics—such as education, income, employment, access to healthcare facilities/ physical activity facilities and parks,  food environment, crime and safety-- on DNA methylation markers and on cardiac and vascular structure and function.

The researchers will leverage existing resources from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, which had followed a biracial cohort of participants from four large U.S. cities with large variations of social disadvantages. The participants were enrolled between the ages of 18 and 30, and have been followed every five years for over 35 years.

By evaluating multiple modifiable risk factors of cardiovascular disease related to social determinants of health, the findings from Zhang’s study will be invaluable to target high-need populations, tailor interventions, and distribute resources to tackle social disadvantages in the U.S. and worldwide.