ArticleJournal of racial and ethnic health disparities2021
Racial Discrimination, Inflammation, and Chronic Illness Among African American Women at Midlife: Support for the Weathering Perspective.
Article in Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 57 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
57 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 91 citations in OpenAlex.
- Epigenome-wide association study meta-analysis of BMI in African Americans.HGG advances · 2026Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of the Everyday Discrimination Scale and biomarker outcomes.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2022Pooled it
- The role of the 'obligation to help others' within the superwoman schema: implications for physical activity in African American women with low activity levels.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2026Trial
- The U-shaped correlation between the systemic immune-inflammation index and all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in hyperlipidemic patients: findings from NHANES 1999-2018.Annals of medicine · 2026Article
- Racism and alterations in brain structure and function: A narrative review of emerging neuroimaging evidence in racialized individuals.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2026Review
- Risk and Protective Factors for Suicidal Ideation and Attempts Among Older Adults in California, 2021-2024 Pooled Cross-Sectional Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Associations among discrimination, genetic susceptibility to inflammation, and C-reactive protein.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- Inflammation profiles in Alzheimer's disease relate to cognition and neurodegeneration.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Social determinants of health and sex differences: insights from NIH Specialized Centers of Research Excellence (SCORE).Biology of sex differences · 2026Article
- Accelerated biological aging: the role of chronic inflammation, weathering and novel therapeutic strategies.Frontiers in aging · 2026Review
- Sexual orientation, gender identity and cardiometabolic risk: a narrative review.Diabetologia · 2025Review
- Weathering the STORM and Forecasting Equity for Older Black Women: Expanding Social Determinants of Health.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Molecular Pathways of Endothelial Dysfunction Induced by Chronic Social Stress and Therapeutic Interventions.Journal of cardiovascular translational research · 2025Review
- Skin-deep resilience in the Black women's experiences living with lupus study.Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2025Article
- A culturally tailored community gardening approach to improving physical activity, fruit and vegetable consumption, and psychological health among African American women: A pre-post feasibility study.Health promotion perspectives · 2025Article
- The Role of Psychological Health in Cardiovascular Health: A Racial Comparison.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Addressing HIV and Substance Use Health Disparities among Racial/Ethnic Minority Individuals.Current HIV/AIDS reports · 2025Review
- Intersectional Dynamics of Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration: Examining Health Outcomes among Black Immigrant Youth through Ethnic-Racial Identity Development and Critical Consciousness.Human development · 2025Article
- COVID-19 as a Mirror: Reflecting the Pandemic of Racism and the Historical Roots of Health Inequities.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Sex differences in perceived discrimination among patients with obesity.Clinical obesity · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
It is widely accepted that socioeconomic status (SES) is a fundamental cause of health inequality. There is evidence, however, that race is also a fundamental cause of disparities in health. Based on this idea, the weathering hypothesis developed by Geronimus and her colleagues views the elevated rates of illness and disability seen among Black Americans as a physiological response to the structural barriers, daily slights, and other threats to identity that comprise the Black experience. The current study tests the weathering hypothesis using chronic inflammation as an indicator of biological weathering. Specifically, we examine the extent to which persistent exposure to racial discrimination predicts elevated inflammation and, in turn, diagnosed chronic illness, after taking into account SES and several control variables. This mediation model was tested using zero-inflated Poisson path modeling with five waves of data collected from 391 African American women participating in the Family and Community Health Study (FACHS). A 13-item index was used to assess exposure to racial discrimination across 8 years. ELISA blood assays of seven cytokines central to the inflammatory response were used to construct an inflammatory index. Respondents reported their diagnosed chronic diseases. Consonant with the weathering hypothesis, persistent exposure to discrimination predicted inflammation which, in turn, predicted number of chronic diseases. This indirect effect was statistically significant. SES predicted having a chronic disease and the various controls showed no effect. The findings support the idea that race, like SES, is a fundamental cause of health inequalities.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.