scholarly journals Racial Discrimination and Telomere Length in Midlife African American Women: Interactions of Educational Attainment and Employment Status

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilyn D Thomas ◽  
Saba Sohail ◽  
Rebecca M Mendez ◽  
Leticia Márquez-Magaña ◽  
Amani M Allen
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Confidence Interval ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
African American Women ◽  
Telomere Length ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
Employment Status ◽  
Cellular Aging ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Institutional Discrimination

Abstract Background Over the life course, African American (AA) women have faster telomere attrition, a biological indicator of accelerated aging, than White women. Race, sex, age, and composite socioeconomic status (SES) modify associations of institutional racial discrimination and telomere length. However, interactions with everyday racial discrimination have not been detected in AA women, nor have interactions with individual socioeconomic predictors. Purpose We estimated statistical interaction of institutional and everyday racial discrimination with age, education, employment, poverty, and composite SES on telomere length among midlife AA women. Methods Data are from a cross-section of 140 AA women aged 30–50 years residing in the San Francisco Bay Area. Participants completed questionnaires, computer-assisted self-interviews, physical examinations, and blood draws. Adjusted linear regression estimated bootstrapped racial discrimination–relative telomere length associations with interaction terms. Results Racial discrimination did not interact with age, poverty, or composite SES measures to modify associations with telomere length. Interactions between independent SES variables were nonsignificant for everyday discrimination whereas institutional discrimination interacted with educational attainment and employment status to modify telomere length. After adjusting for covariates, we found that higher institutional discrimination was associated with shorter telomeres among employed women with lower education (β = −0.020; 95% confidence interval = −0.036, −0.003). Among unemployed women with higher education, higher institutional discrimination was associated with longer telomeres (β = 0.017; 95% confidence interval = 0.003, 0.032). Factors related to having a post-high school education may be protective against the negative effects of institutional racism on cellular aging for AA women.

Abstract 07: Perceptions of Neighborhood Environment are Associated with Shorter Telomere Length in African American Women

Circulation ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 133 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Samson Y Gebreab ◽  
Pia Riestra ◽  
Rumana J Khan ◽  
Ruihua Xu ◽  
Amadou Gaye ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
African American Women ◽  
Telomere Length ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Mean Difference ◽  
Cellular Aging ◽  
Neighborhood Environment ◽  
Base Pairs ◽  
American Women

Objectives: Telomere length (TL) is increasingly being used as a biomarker of cellular aging and age-related cardiovascular diseases (CVD), but the associations between perceptions of neighborhood environment and TL among African Americans is understudied. This study examined whether perceptions of neighborhood environment were associated with TL in African Americans after adjustment for potential confounders. Methods: Data was obtained from the Minority Health Genomics and Translational Research Bio-Repository Database (MH-GRID) study recruited from April 2012 and September 2013. 252 (170 women and 82 men) African Americans aged 30 to 55 years were included. TL was measured from peripheral blood mononuclear cells using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Perceptions of neighborhood environment were assessed using a 12- item scale administered to study participants. The items were summed and averaged to create a score index representing social cohesion, problems and overall unfavorable perception of neighborhood environment. Multivariable linear regression models were used to examine the associations of perceptions of neighborhood environment with TL. Results: On average, women had significantly longer TL than men (4868.6 vs. 4574.8 base pairs, p=0.01). After controlling for socio-demographic variables, and CVD and psychosocial risk factors, a one standard deviation (SD) increase in perception of neighborhood problems was associated with shorter TL (mean difference[[Unable to Display Character:  ]]=[[Unable to Display Character:  ]]-106 base pairs; standard error (SE)=42, p[[Unable to Display Character:  ]]=[[Unable to Display Character:  ]]0.014) among women. Overall unfavorable perception of neighborhood environment was also associated with shorter TL among women (mean difference[[Unable to Display Character:  ]]=[[Unable to Display Character:  ]]-80; SE=38, p=[[Unable to Display Character:  ]]0.034). Better perception of social cohesion was associated with longer TL, but did not reach statistical significance (mean difference = 32, SE=29, p=0.282). No consistent association was observed between perceptions of neighborhood environment and TL among men. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that perceptions of neighborhood environment may be predictive of cellular aging in African American women. Future longitudinal studies are needed to better determine the causal mechanisms underlying these associations.

scholarly journals Racial discrimination, educational attainment, and biological dysregulation among midlife African American women

2019 ◽  
Vol 99 ◽  
pp. 225-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amani M. Allen ◽  
Marilyn D. Thomas ◽  
Eli K. Michaels ◽  
Alexis N. Reeves ◽  
Uche Okoye ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
African American Women ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
American Women

Abstract P080: Self-reported Experiences of Everyday Discrimination are Associated With Shorter Leukocyte Telomeres in African-American Women With Coronary Heart Disease

Circulation ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 135 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Samaah Sullivan ◽  
Viola Vaccarino ◽  
Muhammad Hammadah ◽  
Ibhar Al Mheid ◽  
Kobina Wilmot ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African American Women ◽  
Telomere Length ◽  
White Women ◽  
African American Men ◽  
White Men ◽  
Cellular Aging ◽  
Telomere Shortening ◽  
American Women ◽  
And Gender

Rationale: Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is an indicator of biological aging. Telomere shortening may be sensitive to social stressors such as discrimination, but this has not been previously examined in a biracial cohort of patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). Objective: To explore differences in LTL by race and gender and examine whether discrimination was associated with accelerated cellular aging (shorter telomere length). Methods: Data were from 367 White and African American patients in the Mental Stress Ischemia Mechanisms and Prognosis Study (MIPS) which enrolled patients with a diagnosis of stable CHD from Emory University-affiliated hospitals and clinics. LTL was measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and expressed as a ratio of the amount of telomeric DNA to the amount of single-copy control gene (T/S). The T/S ratios were then converted to kilobase pairs. Discrimination was measured using the 10-item Everyday Discrimination Scale (EDS), where participants reported their experiences of everyday mistreatment during the previous 12 months. Responses were rated using 4-point Likert scales ranging from never = 1 to often = 4 which were summed. Due to the potential batch effect in telomere length, we modeled telomere plate as a random effect. Multiple linear regression models were stratified by race/ethnicity and gender to estimate differences in mean LTL and associations with discrimination, adjusted for potential confounding factors. Results: African American women had longer mean LTL (5.58; SD: 0.05) compared to African American men (5.28; SD: 0.04), White women (5.22; SD: 0.05) and White men (5.24; SD: 0.03). Reports of discrimination were higher among African American men (16.1; SD: 6.5) compared to African American women (15.4; SD: 4.9), White women (14.9; SD: 4.4), and White men (13.5; SD: 3.8). The association between discrimination and accelerated cellular aging was statistically significant among African American women [β = -0.02; 95% CI: (-0.04, -0.001); p=0.0377] after models were adjusted for demographics, smoking history, BMI, and disease history. Discrimination was not significantly associated with accelerated cellular aging among African American men [β = -0.01; 95% CI: (-0.02, 0.01)], White men β = [-0.003; 95% CI: (-0.02, 0.01)], or White women [β = -0.01; 95% CI: (-0.03, 0.01)]. The association between discrimination and accelerated cellular aging remained statistically significant for African American women after further adjusting for depression and perceived stress. Conclusions: Although African American women with CHD have longer telomere length, they may experience greater telomere shortening in relation to discrimination. Accelerated telomere shortening secondary to discrimination stress may be a potential mechanism of health related disparities among African American women with CHD.

African American Women, Racism and Triple Oppression

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-117
Author(s):  
Rajendra Prasad Chapagain
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African American Women ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
Black Men ◽  
Black Males ◽  
White Women ◽  
Black American ◽  
American Women ◽  
Black American Women ◽  
Sexual Repression

African American women have been made multiple victims: racial discrimination by the white community and sexual repression by black males of their own community. They have been subjected to both kind of discrimination - racism and sexism. It is common experience of black American women. Black American women do have their own peculiar world and experiences unlike any white or black men and white women. They have to fight not only against white patriarchy and white women's racism but also against sexism of black men within their own race. To be black and female is to suffer from the triple oppression- sexism, racism and classicism.

scholarly journals Racial Differences in the Use of Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer in a Large Urban Integrated Health System

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S. Simon ◽  
Lois Lamerato ◽  
Richard Krajenta ◽  
Jason C. Booza ◽  
Julie J. Ruterbusch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
African American ◽  
Adjuvant Chemotherapy ◽  
Confidence Interval ◽  
Health System ◽  
African American Women ◽  
Racial Differences ◽  
Odds Ratio ◽  
Cancer Surveillance ◽  
Surveillance Systems

Background. Racial differences in breast cancer survival may be in part due to variation in patterns of care. To better understand factors influencing survival disparities, we evaluated patterns of receipt of adjuvant chemotherapy among 2,234 women with invasive, nonmetastatic breast cancer treated at the Henry Ford Health System (HFHS) from 1996 through 2005.Methods. Sociodemographic and clinical information were obtained from linked datasets from the HFHS, Metropolitan Detroit Cancer Surveillance Systems, and U.S. Census. Comorbidity was measured using the Charlson comorbidity index (CCI), and economic deprivation was categorized using a neighborhood deprivation index.Results. African American (AA) women were more likely than whites to have advanced tumors with more aggressive clinical features, to have more comorbidity and to be socioeconomically deprived. While in the unadjusted model, AAs were more likely to receive chemotherapy (odds ratio (OR) 1.22, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02–1.46) and to have a delay in receipt of chemotherapy beyond 60 days (OR 1.68, 95% CI, 1.26–1.48), after multivariable adjustment there were no racial differences in receipt (odds ratio (OR) 1.02, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.73–1.43), or timing of chemotherapy (OR 1.18, 95 CI, 0.8–1.74).Conclusions. Societal factors and not race appear to have an impact on treatment delay among African American women with early breast cancer.

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