We have a limited understanding of how body mass index (BMI) and low socioeconomic status (SES) contribute to an individual’s cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Our study uses genetic and socioeconomic factors to understand the mechanisms through which the social determinants of health like income and educational attainment interact with high BMI, a more traditional CVD risk factor, to contribute to a person’s risk of CVD. Ultimately, this project will have a public health benefit by demonstrating how directly targeting upstream social factors such as income and education or downstream factors such as modifiable health behaviors and medical care access and utilization would produce the greatest CVD risk reduction among people living with low SES backgrounds with high BMI.
