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Residential Greenness Positively Associated with the Cortisol to DHEA Ratio among Urban-Dwelling African American Women at Risk for HIV

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Abstract

As ecosystems that support human health, societies, and civilization change in the era of the Anthropocene, individuals with disproportionate balance of salivary hormones may be at greatest risk of morbidity and mortality. Vulnerable communities, in particular, are overburdened by inequities in features of built environments linked to health disparities. This study examined the cross-sectional association of greenness in the built environment with the ratio of cortisol to dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) in an urban-dwelling high-risk community sample of African American women (n = 84, age 18–44 years). Saliva samples, collected across 2 consecutive days, were assayed for cortisol and DHEA. Controlling for sexual violence, perceived stress, education, and income, as well as crime, traffic density, and vacant properties, we observed a significant positive cross-sectional association between greenness and the cortisol to DHEA ratio, (β = 7·5, 95% CI: 0.89, 14.19). The findings highlight environmental influence on stress response at waking when there is the greatest individual variation. Implications for advancing our understanding of the waking ratio of cortisol to DHEA as a potential marker of physiological resilience are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

We thank all the staff working at the Baltimore City Health Department, Baltimore City, Maryland. We thank the participants for sharing their time and their experience.

Funding

Dr. Jamila K. Stockman is a recipient of a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (Grant No. R01HD077891). Dr. Andrea N Cimino received a grant from The Johns Hopkins University Center for AIDS Research (Grant No. P30AI094189). Dr. Gibran C. Mancus also received a grant from the Ellen Levi Zamioski Doctoral Fellowship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tuscaloosa, USA

    Gibran Mancus

  2. Baltimore, USA

    Andrea N. Cimino, Jacquelyn C. Campbell & Phyllis Sharps

  3. Baltimore, USA

    Md Zabir Hasan

  4. Baltimore, USA

    Peter J. Winch

  5. La Jolla, USA

    Kiyomi Tsuyuki & Jamila K. Stockman

  6. Irvine, USA

    Douglas A. Granger

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  1. Gibran Mancus
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Ethics declarations

In the interest of full disclosure, DAG is founder and chief scientific and strategy advisor at Salimetrics LLC and Salivabio LLC and these relationships are managed by the policies of the committees on conflict of interest at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the University of California at Irvine.

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Mancus, G., Cimino, A.N., Hasan, M.Z. et al. Residential Greenness Positively Associated with the Cortisol to DHEA Ratio among Urban-Dwelling African American Women at Risk for HIV. J Urban Health 98, 570–578 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-020-00492-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-020-00492-0

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