Social Vulnerability and Biological Aging in New York City: An Electronic Health Records-Based Study

TL;DR

This study shows that social vulnerability, especially socioeconomic status, is linked to faster biological aging in New York City residents, increasing health risks.

Contribution

The study identifies how specific social vulnerability dimensions, particularly socioeconomic status, influence biological aging using electronic health records.

Findings

A decile increase in social vulnerability was linked to 0.23 years of faster biological aging.

Socioeconomic status was the strongest contributor to accelerated biological aging.

Women and racial/ethnic minorities experienced greater negative effects from social vulnerability.

Abstract

Chronological age is not an accurate predictor of morbidity and mortality risk, as individuals’ aging processes are diverse. Phenotypic age acceleration (PhenoAgeAccel) is a validated biological age measure incorporating chronological age and biomarkers from blood samples commonly used in clinical practice that can better reflect aging-related morbidity and mortality risk. The heterogeneity of age-related decline is not random, as environmental exposures can promote or impede healthy aging. Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) is a composite index accounting for different facets of the social, economic, and demographic environment grouped into four themes: socioeconomic status, household composition and disability, minority status and language, and housing and transportation. We aim to assess the concurrent and combined associations of the four SVI themes on PhenoAgeAccel and the differential effects on disadvantaged groups. We use electronic health records data from 31,913 patients from the Mount Sinai Health System (116,952 person-years) and calculate PhenoAge for years with available laboratory results (2011–2022). PhenoAge is calculated as a weighted linear combination of lab results, and PhenoAgeAccel is the differential between PhenoAge and chronological age. A decile increase in the mixture of SVI dimensions was associated with an increase of 0.23 years (95% CI 0.21, 0.25) in PhenoAgeAccel. The socioeconomic status dimension was the main driver of the association, accounting for 61% of the weight. Interaction models revealed a more substantial detrimental association for women and racial and ethnic minorities with differences in leading SVI themes. These findings suggest that neighborhood-level social vulnerability increases the biological age of its residents, increasing morbidity and mortality risks. Socioeconomic status has the larger detrimental role among the different facets of social environment.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11524-024-00948-7.

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