LIVING IN HISTORICALLY REDLINED NEIGHBORHOODS AND ACCELERATED BIOLOGICAL AGING AMONG OLDER ADULTS

Abstract

Abstract Various neighborhood factors, including greenspace availability and neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage, are associated with accelerated biological age (aging faster than expected based on chronological age) among older adults. Neighborhoods, however, evolve overtime and historical neighborhood conditions may be influential in the aging process of older residents. In the United States, many neighborhoods were impacted by historical redlining (a federally sponsored, discriminatory program targeting communities of color throughout the 1930s), wherein neighborhoods received grades based on demographics and quality of infrastructure. Overwhelmingly, neighborhoods with more residents of color were considered less desirable or “redlined” and prior research links living in historically redlined neighborhoods to poor health across the life course and worse neighborhood conditions. We link data on redlining of U.S. census tracts from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) to the 2016 Health and Retirement Study Venous Blood Study (HRS-VBS) to assess whether living in historically redlined neighborhoods is associated with advanced biological aging among adults aged 55 and older. Our indicator of expanded biological age is a summary measure of 22 biomarkers associated with cardiovascular, immune, and metabolic functioning. Using multivariate linear regression models controlling for an individual’s age, sex, and race/ethnicity, we found that individuals living in neighborhoods historically designated as “declining” or “hazardous” were about 2 years older biologically than individuals living in neighborhoods designated as “best/desirable”. These findings suggest that residing in neighborhoods differentially shaped by historical forces impacts rates of accelerated aging. Identifying these historical neighborhood conditions may help target interventions addressing disparities in aging.