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Life Course Perspectives on Bio-Social Risk: Understanding Disparities in Cardiovascular Disease

Gniesha Y. Dinwiddie, African American Studies Department

This study is an innovative project that investigates the relationship between SES, race/ethnicity, age cohorts and biological risk for Cardiovascular Disease.  Scientists have sought to link biological markers to social measures in an attempt to better understand the underlying physiological mechanisms linking social risk factors for health.  It is hypothesized that within race/ethnic groups, those with higher levels of SES would have lower biological risks compared to those with lower SES.   However, not much is known about whether the relationship between SES and biological risk for CVD is strong for status groups, and to what extent health behaviors and health status mediates or moderates the relationship.  More importantly, how risk factors are structured by SES that predict CVD vulnerability by age cohort and the degree to which these risk factors operate independently and concomitantly to compromise health is understudied for status groups.  In sum, this study seeks to test the implications of SES, racial/ethnic group affiliation, and age cohort on biological susceptibility to better understand variations in CVD outcomes at critical stages of the life course for young adulthood (24-32 yrs) and older ages (45+ years).

 

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