The relationship between racial discrimination and white matter among Black older adults

IF 4 3区医学 Q2 GERIATRICS & GERONTOLOGY

Neurobiology of Aging Pub Date : 2025-12-01 Epub Date: 2025-07-30 DOI:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2025.07.017

Jordan D. Palms , Ji Hyun Lee , Emily P. Morris , Ketlyne Sol , Monica E. Walters , Kiana A. Scambray , Clarissa D. Morales , Mohamad J. Alshikho , Patrick J. Lao , Jennifer J. Manly , Adam M. Brickman , Laura B. Zahodne

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Abstract

Black older adults experience worse brain and cognitive aging than White older adults, on average. Racially patterned psychosocial stressors may contribute to these disparities. Maintaining white matter health is important for cognitive aging, particularly among Black older adults, and it is uniquely vulnerable to stress. Examining associations between racial discrimination and white matter may elucidate mechanisms of disparities. A sample of Black older adults in the Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging project were included (N = 217). Everyday and major life discrimination were self-reported on well-validated scales. Diffusion tensor imaging quantified white matter fractional anisotropy (FA). Multivariable regressions revealed more major life discrimination was associated with lower FA in the cingulum cingulate gyrus, forceps major, forceps minor, and inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus but greater FA in the superior longitudinal fasciculus temporal projection. Everyday discrimination was not associated with FA. Findings suggest that institutional racism may have a stronger effect on white matter tracts corresponding to cognitive and emotional/affective processing than interpersonal racism. White matter health may be a mechanism through which racially patterned stressors contribute to disparities in brain and cognitive aging.

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黑人老年人种族歧视与白质的关系

平均而言，黑人老年人的大脑和认知老化情况比白人老年人更严重。种族模式的社会心理压力源可能导致这些差异。保持白质的健康对认知老化很重要，尤其是在黑人老年人中，而且它特别容易受到压力的影响。研究种族歧视和白质之间的联系可以阐明差异的机制。纳入了华盛顿高地-因伍德-哥伦比亚老龄化项目的黑人老年人样本（N = 217）。日常生活和重大生活歧视都是在经过验证的量表上自我报告的。扩散张量成像量化白质分数各向异性（FA）。多变量回归显示，更多的重大生活区分与扣带回、大钳、小钳和额枕下束的FA较低相关，但与上纵束颞投影的FA较高相关。日常歧视与FA无关。研究结果表明，与人际种族主义相比，制度性种族主义可能对与认知和情绪/情感处理相关的白质束有更强的影响。白质健康可能是一种机制，通过这种机制，种族模式的压力源会导致大脑和认知衰老的差异。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Neurobiology of Aging 医学-老年医学

CiteScore

8.40

自引率

2.40%

发文量

225

审稿时长

67 days

期刊介绍： Neurobiology of Aging publishes the results of studies in behavior, biochemistry, cell biology, endocrinology, molecular biology, morphology, neurology, neuropathology, pharmacology, physiology and protein chemistry in which the primary emphasis involves mechanisms of nervous system changes with age or diseases associated with age. Reviews and primary research articles are included, occasionally accompanied by open peer commentary. Letters to the Editor and brief communications are also acceptable. Brief reports of highly time-sensitive material are usually treated as rapid communications in which case editorial review is completed within six weeks and publication scheduled for the next available issue.