Exploring Rural-Urban Differences in Polygenic Associations for Health among Older Adults in the United States.

Abstract

This paper contributes to research on health disparities among rural and urban residents by considering differences in the magnitude of genetic associations for physical health, mental health, and health behaviors across the two settings. Previous research has shown reduced genetic associations in rural compared to urban settings but none have utilized current genome-wide polygenic scores and none have focused on older adults. Using a sample of 14,994 adults from the 1992 to 2016 waves of the Health and Retirement Study our results suggest genetic associations for BMI (p<.018) and heart conditions (p < .023) are significantly reduced in rural compared to urban settings and we find weak evidence in support of this association for depression (p. < .065) and no evidence for smoking (p < 461). In sum, the weaker genetic associations in rural areas highlights the centrality of the social, economic, and built environment as a determinant of disparities.