Background: Black women experience disproportionate exposure to chronic psychosocial stressors that may contribute to accelerated biological aging and heightened cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Resilience, the capacity to adapt and recover from adversity, may serve as a critical protective factor that mitigates the physiological impact of chronic stress thereby reducing premature physiological decline and CVD onset. However limited data exist on the relationship between resilience and biological age (BA) among early midlife Black women, a group at elevated risk for premature cardiometabolic aging. Methods: Resilience and BA were assessed in a cohort of healthy early midlife Black women without known CVD n=87 from a large metropolitan city. BA was estimated using the Klemera-Doubal method from 11-different clinical biomarkers and chronological age (CA). Resilience was assessed using the 10-item Connor-Davidson resilience Scale CD-RISC 10 with higher scores denoting greater resilience. Multivariable linear regression models examined the association between resilience and BA, adjusting for CA, socioeconomic position, marital status, CVD risk factors, health behaviors, and a composite measure of perceived chronic stress. Results: Participants had a mean (SD) CA and BA age of 37(4.4) years and 41.6(18.2) years. Higher psychological resilience scores were associated with younger BA (b= -1.04 years 95%CI: -1.67, -0.42, P =0.001) in the unadjusted and fully adjusted model (b= -0.55 years [95%CI: -1.09, -0.01, P =0.045) accounting for CA, socioeconomic position, marital status, waist circumference, LDL-c, alcohol frequency, and chronic stress burden. Conclusion: Higher psychological resilience was associated with lower BA among early midlife Black women suggesting resilience may mitigate the impact of stress-related physiological aging and delay the onset of CVD. These findings highlight the importance of fostering resilience as part of the comprehensive management and prevention of CVD to promote healthy aging and reduction of CVD disparities in early midlife Black women.
Spikes et al. (Tue,) studied this question.