Sanaa Devgan
Research Mentor(s): Tina Lasisi
Mentor Department: Anthropology
Authors: Sanaa Devgan, Paloma Contreras
Session: Session 6 (3:00pm – 3:50pm)
Presentation Type: Poster 70
Abstract
Hair cortisol measurements have been used as informative of long-term exposure to stressful conditions for decades, but its accuracy is still under discussion. A well-known source of chronic stress is low socioeconomic status, as it can impact access to resources and services and explain higher chronic disease rates within this group. Negative health outcomes have been reported as possibly driven by a chronic activation of the biological stress response (HPA axis). Our research question is: How does socioeconomic status correlate with cortisol levels and the incidence of chronic disease in women? Our data includes 400 adult women from Iztapalapa, Mexico City. SES scores were obtained from the NSE-AMAI questionnaire, and hair cortisol data was generated using a modified version of the Meyer et al. 2014 immunoassay protocol. This study will provide an evaluation of hair cortisol measurements as a reliable proxy for biological stress. We are also interested in furthering our investigation through the applications of our findings to the topic of chronic illnesses as a whole. Our results could add evidence to support the use of hair cortisol measurements as a simple, low-cost method to the study of inequality, stress, and negative health outcomes. Ultimately, this work aims to advance our understanding of how structural inequalities contribute to health disparities among women in Latin America, offering insights into the biological impact of socioeconomic injustice.
