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Indirect Effects of Racial Discrimination on Health Outcomes Through Prefrontal Cortical White Matter Integrity
Onyebuchi Okeke1, Aziz Elbasheir1, Sierra E Carter2
1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
Summary
Racial discrimination impacts health by altering brain white matter structure in Black women. These neuroplastic changes in the anterior cingulum bundle and corpus callosum may increase medical disorder risk.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Public Health
- Medical Sociology
Background:
- Racial discrimination is linked to poor health and brain white matter changes.
- The indirect impact of discrimination on health via neuroplasticity is not well understood.
- This study examines how racial discrimination affects health through white matter microstructure in trauma-exposed Black women.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the indirect association between racial discrimination and health outcomes.
- To investigate the role of white matter microstructure as a mediator in this relationship.
- To explore these connections in a sample of Black women exposed to trauma.
Main Methods:
- Recruited 79 Black women from an urban hospital trauma study.
- Assessed medical disorders and experiences of racial discrimination.
- Used diffusion tensor imaging to analyze fractional anisotropy in specific white matter tracts (corpus callosum, anterior cingulum bundle, superior longitudinal fasciculus) and employed mediational models.
Main Results:
- Significant indirect effects of racial discrimination on medical disorders were found through the left anterior cingulum bundle fractional anisotropy (β = 0.07).
- Significant indirect effects were also observed through the corpus callosum genu fractional anisotropy (β = 0.08).
- These associations remained significant after controlling for trauma and economic disadvantage.
Conclusions:
- Racial discrimination may elevate medical disorder risk through neuroplastic changes in prefrontal white matter tracts.
- Alterations in these white matter tracts could influence health behaviors, subsequently impacting medical disorder vulnerability.
- Findings underscore the link between racial discrimination, prefrontal white matter integrity, and medical disorder incidence in Black Americans.
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