Vanderbilt University Study Seeks to Determine If Blacks Are Aging Faster Than Whites Due to Increased Levels of Stress

The Center for Research on Health Disparities at Vanderbilt University is conducting a five-year, $4 million study to determine the effects of stress on the aging process and whether there are racial differences regarding the aging process due to stress. The study, funded by the National Institute on Aging, will examine telomeres on chromosomes that get shorter as the body ages. The researchers will measure these telomores to see if people who report a high degree of stress are aging more rapidly. Among the sources of stress that will be studied are discrimination and racial profiling.

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