Urbanization, environment, and inflammaging: insights from sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Emerging evidence shows that inflammaging varies across populations, challenging universal immune-aging models. Urbanization in sub-Saharan Africa-characterized by reduced exposure to infectious diseases and rising rates of noncommunicable diseases-offers a natural experiment for assessing environmental effects on inflammaging. Lower inflammaging in indigenous groups may reflect adaptation to chronic infection, whereas heightened inflammation in industrialized populations suggests ecological imbalance, underscoring the need to include diverse ecological groups in aging research.