Discrimination, segregation, and chronic inflammation: Testing the weathering explanation for the poor health of Black Americans.

ABSTRACT: Several studies have reported a relation between race-related stressors and the poor health of Black Americans. Such findings raise questions regarding the mediating biological mechanisms that might account for this link. The present study investigated elevated systemic inflammation, a factor shown to be a strong predictor of chronic illness and mortality in all ethnic populations, as a possible factor. Using 7 waves of data from the Family and Community Health Study, collected over a 20-year period from over 400 Black Americans, we investigated the extent to which exposure to discrimination and segregation at various points in the life course predicted adult inflammation at age 28. Our analyses examined whether cumulative stress, stress generation, or predictive adaptive response (PAR) mo

SUBMITTER: Simons RL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7685230 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature