PITTSBURGH — The health impacts of stress are well documented in medical literature, with plenty of evidence that living in an underprivileged, crime-ridden neighborhood takes a considerable toll on health.

But the dramatic results of a study led by Mijung Park of the University of Pittsburgh, and published last month, in the journal PLOS One surprised even her.

The study, including researchers and data from the Netherlands, found that a person’s perception alone that he or she lives in a bad neighborhood is associated with shorter telomeres – the protective caps on chromosomes that diminish with age and more aggressively so from stress.

Compared with those who say they live in good-quality neighborhoods, those in poor-quality neighborhoods showed reduced telomere lengths equivalent to the addition of 12 biological years to their actual ages.

“The magnitude was very large – larger than anticipated, and I was very surprised, and also very intrigued by it,” said Park, who has a Ph.D. and is assistant professor in health and community systems in Pitt’s School of Nursing. “It is controversial to conclude that telomere length predicts how long we live. The data are not complete.

“What we know so far is that telomere length, or relative telomere length, can be an indicator of biological stress a person is experiencing throughout life, and that is why telomere length may be associated with longevity.”

The study used telomere data collected from about 2,900 people involved in the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety. Adjusting for known factors affecting telomere length, including depression, socioeconomic issues and lifestyle characteristics, among others, allowed the team to focus on the association between telomere length and if the person considered his or her neighborhood to be of good, moderate or poor quality.

Telomeres are compounds that protect the ends of chromosomes, much like the plastic or metal tips at the ends of shoelaces. They shrink when the cell divides, making them a focus in aging studies. Stress is known to accelerate their shrinkage rate.

When telomeres shrink to certain levels, the person faces ever higher risks of cancer, heart disease and other chronic diseases.

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