Abstract
African American adults suffer disproportionately from several non-communicable and infectious diseases. Among numerous contributing factors, perceived discrimination is considered a stressor for members of historically marginalized groups that contributes to health risk, although biological pathways are incompletely understood. Previous studies have reported associations between stress and both an up-regulation of non-specific (innate) inflammation and down-regulation of specific (adaptive) immunity. While associations between perceived discrimination and markers of inflammation have been explored, it is unclear if this is part of an overall shift that also includes down-regulated adaptive immunity. Relying on a large cross-section of African American adults (n = 3,319) from the Jackson Heart Study (JHS) in Jackson, Mississippi, we tested whether perceived everyday and lifetime discrimination as well as perceived burden from lifetime discrimination were associated with counts of neutrophils (innate), monocytes (innate), lymphocytes (adaptive), and the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), derived from complete white blood cell counts with differential. In addition, DNA methylation (DNAm) was measured on the EPIC array in a sub-sample (n = 1,023) of participants, allowing estimation of CD4T, CD8T and B lymphocyte proportions. Unexpectedly, high lifetime discrimination compared to low was significantly associated with lower neutrophils (b: -0.14, [95% CI: -0.24, -0.04]) and a lower NLR (b: -0.15, [95% CI: -0.25, -0.05]) after controlling for confounders. However, high perceived burden from lifetime discrimination was significantly associated with higher neutrophils (b: 0.17, [95% CI: 0.05, 0.30]) and a higher NLR (b: 0.16, [95% CI: 0.03, 0.29]). High perceived burden was also associated with lower lymphocytes among older men, which our analysis suggested might have been attributable to differences in CD4T cells. These findings highlight immune function as a potentially important pathway linking perceived discrimination to health outcomes.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 28-36 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Brain, Behavior, and Immunity |
| Volume | 103 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 2022 |
Funding
The Jackson Heart Study (JHS) is supported and conducted in collaboration with Jackson State University ( HHSN268201800013I ), Tougaloo College (HHSN268201800014I), the Mississippi State Department of Health (HHSN268201800015I) and the University of Mississippi Medical Center (HHSN268201800010I, HHSN268201800011I and HHSN268201800012I) contracts from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). The authors also wish to thank the staffs and participants of the JHS. Allana T. Forde is supported by the Division of Intramural Research of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institutes of Health. Láshauntá M. Glover is supported by the NHLBI under award number F31HL159910. Thomas W. McDade is a CIFAR Fellow in the Child and Brain Development program. Finally, this research was supported in part through the computational resources and staff contributions provided for the Quest high performance computing facility at Northwestern University which is jointly supported by the Office of the Provost, the Office for Research, and Northwestern University Information Technology. The Jackson Heart Study (JHS) is supported and conducted in collaboration with Jackson State University (HHSN268201800013I), Tougaloo College (HHSN268201800014I), the Mississippi State Department of Health (HHSN268201800015I) and the University of Mississippi Medical Center (HHSN268201800010I, HHSN268201800011I and HHSN268201800012I) contracts from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). The authors also wish to thank the staffs and participants of the JHS. Allana T. Forde is supported by the Division of Intramural Research of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institutes of Health. L?shaunt? M. Glover is supported by the NHLBI under award number F31HL159910. Thomas W. McDade is a CIFAR Fellow in the Child and Brain Development program. Finally, this research was supported in part through the computational resources and staff contributions provided for the Quest high performance computing facility at Northwestern University which is jointly supported by the Office of the Provost, the Office for Research, and Northwestern University Information Technology. The views expressed in this manuscript are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; the National Institutes of Health; or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The authors declare no competing interests.
Keywords
- African American Health
- Health Disparities
- Immune Function
- Jackson Heart Study
- Lymphocytes
- NLR
- Neutrophils
- Perceived Discrimination
- Stress
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Endocrine and Autonomic Systems
- Behavioral Neuroscience
- Immunology
