Pilot 1
Neighborhood cultural isolation and biomarkers of cardiovascular disease among Latinos
(A. Aiello PI)
(2-year pilot)
The USA expects to receive an increasing number of immigrants in the coming years. Mexican immigrants account for a large proportion of immigrant growth in the nation. Census data shows that a majority of Hispanics, including immigrants, do not live within ethnic enclaves, but instead are dispersed throughout neighborhoods of which they represent only a small proportion of the racial/ethnic makeup.
A growing body of work has focused on the health effects of “acculturation” with acculturation being defined as the process by which individuals whose primary lifestyle has been that of one culture acquire characteristics of the lifestyle of another culture. Most of the research regarding the health effects of acculturation has been measured at the individual level using self-report measures, such as primary language spoken. Recently, some have called for further theoretical models to examine the health effects of acculturation that incorporate both structural and cultural forces, such as neighborhood ethnic composition.
Our specific aims are to:
- evaluate whether older Latinos exposed to neighborhoods which are culturally isolated are at increased risk of experiencing psychosocial stress, and
- assess whether psychosocial stress leads to biological alterations in immune function, heightened inflammation, and increased risk of metabolic syndrome.
We also hypothesize that altered immunity, heightened inflammation, and the occurrence of metabolic syndrome, increases risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease over time.
We will meet our pilot research objectives by taking advantage of existing demographic and biologic data from the Sacramento Area Latino Study on Aging, which is a large-scale ongoing cohort study of predominantly Mexican-American individuals living in the community setting. Our proposed research will constitute the first systematic attempt to assess the epidemiological effects of neighborhood cultural isolation on levels of psychosocial stress and how stress influences biological markers of immunity, inflammation, and metabolic syndrome.
The findings from this study will have important public health implications, including identification of critical neighborhood level cultural determinants of health and biological risk factors, as targets for early prevention of cardiovascular disease and diabetes among community dwelling Latino populations.