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Neighborhood Characteristics and Cardiovascular Biomarkers in Middle-Aged and Older Adults: the Baltimore Memory Study

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Abstract

Neighborhood greenness has been linked to better cardiovascular health, but little is known about its association with biomarkers related to cardiovascular risk. Adverse neighborhood conditions, such as disorder and socioeconomic disadvantage, are associated with higher cardiovascular biomarker levels, but these relationships may differ in neighborhoods with more greenness. This study evaluated cross-sectional associations of validated measures of neighborhood greenness, disorder, and socioeconomic disadvantage with cardiovascular biomarkers in middle-aged and older adults living in Baltimore City. The sample included 500 adults, aged 57–79 years, enrolled in the Baltimore Memory Study and living in Baltimore City during 2009–2010. Multi-level log-gamma regressions examined associations between the three neighborhood characteristics and seven cardiovascular biomarkers. Models additionally evaluated the effect modification by neighborhood greenness on associations of neighborhood disorder and socioeconomic disadvantage with the biomarkers. Adjusting for covariates and neighborhood greenness, greater neighborhood disorder was associated with higher C-reactive protein (exp β = 1.21, SE = 0.11, p = 0.035) and serum amyloid A (exp β = 1.28, SE = 0.12, p = 0.008), while greater neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage was associated with higher tumor necrosis factor alpha (exp β = 1.24, SE = 0.12, p = 0.019). Higher neighborhood greenness was associated with lower soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, accounting for disorder (exp β = 0.70, SE = 0.10, p = 0.010) and socioeconomic disadvantage (exp β = 0.73, SE = 0.10, p = 0.025). There was no evidence of effect modification among neighborhood characteristics. The findings suggest that neighborhood effects on cardiovascular health may be mediated through cardiovascular biomarker levels, and that socioeconomic disadvantage, disorder, and greenness may each be important features of neighborhoods.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (F31 HL146080). The Baltimore Memory Study was funded by the National Institute on Aging (R01 AG19604). The content of this manuscript is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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  1. Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, 525 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA

    Laken C. Roberts & Laura J. Samuel

  2. Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA

    Brian S. Schwartz

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Roberts, L.C., Schwartz, B.S. & Samuel, L.J. Neighborhood Characteristics and Cardiovascular Biomarkers in Middle-Aged and Older Adults: the Baltimore Memory Study. J Urban Health 98, 130–142 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-020-00499-7

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