Abstract
Background
Racial discrimination is consistently associated with adverse health outcomes and
has been linked to structural decrements in brain white matter. However, it is unclear
whether discrimination-related neuroplastic changes could indirectly affect health
outcomes. Our goal was to evaluate indirect associations of racial discrimination
on health outcomes through white matter microstructure in a sample of trauma-exposed
Black women.
Methods
A trauma study in an urban hospital setting recruited 79 Black women who received
a history and physical examination to assess medical disorders (compiled into a summed
total of disorder types). Participants reported on experiences of racial discrimination
and underwent diffusion tensor imaging; fractional anisotropy values were extracted
from white matter pathways previously linked to racial discrimination (corpus callosum,
including the body and genu; anterior cingulum bundle; and superior longitudinal fasciculus)
and entered into mediational models.
Results
Indirect effects of racial discrimination on medical disorders through left anterior
cingulum bundle fractional anisotropy were significant (β = 0.07, SE = 0.04, 95% CI
[0.003, 0.14]) after accounting for trauma and economic disadvantage. Indirect effects
of racial discrimination on medical disorders through corpus callosum genu fractional
anisotropy were also significant (β = 0.08, SE = 0.04, 95% CI [0.01, 0.16]).
Conclusions
Racial discrimination may increase risk for medical disorders via neuroplastic effects
on microstructural integrity of stress-sensitive prefrontal white matter tracts. Racial
discrimination–related changes in these tracts may affect health behaviors, which,
in turn, influence vulnerability for medical disorders. These data highlight the connections
between racial discrimination, prefrontal white matter connections, and incidence
of medical disorders in Black Americans.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 18, 2022
Accepted:
May 5,
2022
Received in revised form:
April 18,
2022
Received:
March 8,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Journal Pre-ProofIdentification
Copyright
© 2022 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
