What is ARCHES?

Aging Research Characterizing Health Equity via Social determinants

A pioneering study examining social determinants of health, aging, and cognitive functioning among Black Americans.

At the top of this image is the bolded headline “social determinants of health.” Below the headline, is a circle with five segments, each representing a different aspect of life. At the bottom is the definition: Conditions in the places where people live, learn, work, and play that affect health and quality-of-life risks and outcomes.

Here’s the Problem

Black Americans have more occurrences of chronic diseases, a higher rate of death, and are at twice the risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) compared to White Americans. However, these differences aren’t tied to the individual communities. They are tied to the conditions of the environment surrounding them (e.g., stress, discrimination, health disparity, etc.).

Unfortunately, the Black population is severely underrepresented in Alzheimer’s research, so we lack the proper information to fully understand how much these environmental factors impact AD risk for the Black community specifically.

It is important to obtain a truly representative sample to investigate how physical and social environmental factors can affect Black Americans and their risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Darrell Hudson, Co-Principal Investigator
At the top of this image is the bolded headline “What is health disparity?” Below the headline, is an image of an unbalanced weighted scale symbolizing fairness and justice. At the bottom is the definition: Differences in health that are not only unnecessary and avoidable but in addition are considered unfair and unjust.

What We Plan to Do

Identify

Identify how environmental, cultural, and resource barriers relate to Alzheimer’s risk through community-based workshops.

Investigate

Investigate how social and systemic conditions impact the health and mental well-being of Black adults in the St. Louis community.

Implement

Implement concrete plans and public policies to help address and resolve health disparities within St. Louis and beyond.

How You Can Help

We truly cannot do this research without you. If we don’t have diversity in all aspects, then our research isn’t representative of the true community, so here is how you can help:

1. Fill out the ‘Participation Form’ below.

2. Tell us about your experience as a Black adult growing older in America.

3. Encourage others to join the study!

With your help, we will be able to design plans and public policies that will make growing older easier for you and those to come. 

Thank you in advance for your support towards closing the health disparity gap! 

Interested in participating?

Please click the link below to fill out our contact form:

Participation Form