Associations between historical and contemporary measures of structural racism and leukocyte telomere length: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)

Elleni M Hailu; Xing Gao; Belinda L Needham; Teresa Seeman; Tené T Lewis; Mahasin S Mujahid

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117229

Associations between historical and contemporary measures of structural racism and leukocyte telomere length: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)

Soc Sci Med. 2024 Aug 10:360:117229. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117229. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Elleni M Hailu¹, Xing Gao², Belinda L Needham³, Teresa Seeman⁴, Tené T Lewis⁵, Mahasin S Mujahid⁶

Affiliations

¹ Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, 2121 Berkeley Way #5302, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA. Electronic address: ehailu@berkeley.edu.
² Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, & Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, USA.
³ Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, USA.
⁴ Department of Geriatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, USA.
⁵ Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, USA.
⁶ Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, 2121 Berkeley Way #5302, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.

PMID: 39303531
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117229

Abstract

Background: We assessed the link between two manifestations of structural racism-historical redlining and contemporary racial residential segregation-and baseline and 10-year changes in leukocyte telomere length (LTL).

Methods: We used data on Black and Hispanic/Latinx participants from Exams I and V of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis Stress Ancillary Study (N = 741, age range = 45-84 years). LTL was defined as the ratio of telomeric DNA to a single copy gene (T/S), and 10-year changes were adjusted for regression to the mean. We used 1930s Home Owners' Loan Corporation maps to assign three historical redlining grades (A&B: best/still desirable, C: declining, D: hazardous/redlined) to participants' neighborhoods (census-tracts) at baseline. The Getis-Ord G_i∗ statistic was used to evaluate census-tract level baseline residential segregation (low/moderate/high).

Results: In mixed-effects regression models accounting for neighborhood clustering, individual characteristics, and current neighborhood environments, those living in highly segregated Black neighborhoods had 0.08 shorter baseline LTL (95% CI: -0.13, -0.04), than those residing in the least segregated neighborhoods. We did not find a relationship between residing in segregated neighborhoods and 10-year LTL changes, and associations between residing in historically redlined neighborhoods and both baseline LTL and 10-year changes in LTL were null. Across discriminatory disinvestment trajectories examined, individuals residing in highly segregated but non-redlined neighborhoods had 0.6 shorter baseline LTL than individuals residing in non-redlined neighborhoods with low/moderate segregation (95% CI: -0.12, -0.01).

Conclusions: Our results highlight the impact of racial segregation on cellular aging and underscore the need to ameliorate structural inequities within segregated neighborhoods.

Keywords: Cellular aging; Redlining; Segregation; Structural racism; Telomere length.