How chronic stress and neighborhood conditions relate to breast cancer
Impact of Allostatic Load and Neighborhood Contextual Factors on Breast Cancer in the Women's Health Initiative
Researchers will look at whether long-term physiological stress and neighborhood factors are linked to breast cancer risk and tumor type in women, with attention to Black and Hispanic/Latinx women.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Columbia University Health Sciences NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (New York, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11373145 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If you were part of the Women's Health Initiative, researchers will use your earlier blood tests and health records to calculate an allostatic load score — a summary of measures like blood pressure, inflammation, and metabolism. They will combine that with objective neighborhood information (for example income, housing, and segregation around your home) to see if these factors together relate to later breast cancer risk and tumor features. The team will compare results across racial and ethnic groups, focusing on non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic/Latinx women to understand disparities. No new treatments or visits are required because this work analyzes existing data and samples to find biological and social pathways that might explain worse outcomes.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are women represented in large cohorts like the Women's Health Initiative — typically postmenopausal adults with prior blood tests, health records, and address information available for neighborhood linking.
Not a fit: Young women, men, or people without available biological measures or neighborhood/address data would likely not be eligible or directly benefit from this analysis.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could help identify stress-related biological changes and neighborhood risks that point to better prevention, earlier detection, or tailored support for groups at higher risk of aggressive breast cancer.
How similar studies have performed: Prior studies have linked higher allostatic load to worse health and have shown associations with breast cancer in Black women, but combining pre-diagnostic allostatic load with detailed neighborhood measures in a large prospective sample is largely novel.
Where this research is happening
New York, United States
- Columbia University Health Sciences — New York, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Llanos, Adana a. M. — Columbia University Health Sciences
- Study coordinator: Llanos, Adana a. M.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.