The research links interpersonal discrimination to changes at the molecular level, revealing a potential root cause of disparities in aging-related illness and death.
To better understand the connection between discrimination and aging, Cuevas and his colleagues looked at three measures of DNA methylation, a marker that can be used to assess the biological impacts of stress and the aging process.Blood samples and surveys were collected from nearly 2,000 adults as part of the Midlife in the United States study, a longitudinal analysis of health and well-being funded by the National Institute on Aging.
The researchers found that discrimination was linked to accelerated biological aging, with people who reported more discrimination aging faster biologically compared to those who experienced less discrimination. Everyday and major discrimination were consistently associated with biological aging, while exposure to discrimination in the workplace was also linked to accelerated aging, but its impact was comparatively less severe.
Adolfo Cuevas, assistant professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at NYU’s School of Global Public Health, said: “Experiencing discrimination appears to hasten the process of aging, which may be contributing to disease and early mortality and fueling health disparities.“While health behaviours partly explain these disparities, it’s likely that a range of processes are at play connecting psychosocial stressors to biological aging.