Accelerated Health Declines among African Americans in the USA

Thorpe, Roland J.; Fesahazion, Ruth G.; Parker, Lauren; Wilder, Tanganiyka; Rooks, Ronica N.; Bowie, Janice V.; Bell, Caryn N.; Szanton, Sarah L.; LaVeist, Thomas A.

doi:10.1007/s11524-016-0075-4

Cited by 71 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 59 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…While initially presented as an explanation for excess rates of infant mortality among black women, 3,4 it is now applied to explain broader disparities in health outcomes among disadvantaged populations. [5][6][7][8] Additional hypotheses, including normative differences in childbearing patterns by age, 9 allostatic load, 6,10-12 the developmental origins of health and disease, 13 and the life-course framework, 11,[14][15][16] have been developed to advance our understanding of disparities in birth outcomes. [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] The extent to which the various hypotheses apply to all minority women at all points in their reproductive lives is not clear.…”

Section: Backg Rou N Dmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This earlier and steeper health decline is conceptualised as a direct consequence of lifelong exposure to social and environmental disadvantage, which ultimately leads to widening health disparities between blacks and whites as they age. While initially presented as an explanation for excess rates of infant mortality among black women, it is now applied to explain broader disparities in health outcomes among disadvantaged populations …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Risks of preterm birth among non‐Hispanic black and non‐Hispanic white women: Effect modification by maternal age

Keiser

Salinas

DeWan

et al. 2019

Paediatric Perinatal Epid

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Preterm birth (PTB) disproportionately affects African American compared with Caucasian women, although reasons for this disparity remain unclear. Some suggest that a differential effect of maternal age by race/ethnicity, especially at older maternal ages, may explain disparities. Objective To determine whether the relationship between maternal age and preterm birth varies by race/ethnicity among primiparae non‐Hispanic blacks (NHB) and non‐Hispanic whites (NHW). Methods A cross‐sectional study of 367 081 singleton liveborn first births to NHB and NHW women in California from 2008 to 2012 was conducted. Rate ratios (RR) were estimated for PTB and its subtypes—spontaneous and clinician‐initiated—after adjusting for confounders through Poisson regression. Universal age/race reference groups (NHW, 25‐29 years) and race‐specific reference groups (NHW or NHB, 25‐29 years) were used for comparisons. Results Among all women, RR of PTB was highest at the extremes of age (<15 and ≥40 years). Among NHBs, the risk of PTB was higher than among NHWs at all maternal ages (adjusted RR of PTB 1.38‐2.93 vs 0.98‐2.38). However, using race‐specific reference groups, the risk of PTB for NHB women (RR 0.91‐1.88) vs NHW women (RR 0.98‐2.39) was nearly identical at all maternal ages, with overlapping confidence intervals. Analyses did not demonstrate substantial divergence of risk with advancing maternal age. PTB, spontaneous PTB, and clinician‐initiated PTB demonstrated similar risk patterns at younger but not older maternal ages, where risk of clinician‐initiated PTB increased sharply for all women. Conclusions Primiparae NHBs demonstrated increased risk of PTB, spontaneous PTB, and clinician‐initiated PTB compared with NHWs at all maternal ages. However, RRs using race‐specific reference groups converged across maternal ages, indicating a similar independent effect of maternal age on PTB by race/ethnicity. A differential effect of maternal age does not appear to explain disparities in preterm birth by race/ethnicity.

show abstract

Section: Backg Rou N Dmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risks of preterm birth among non‐Hispanic black and non‐Hispanic white women: Effect modification by maternal age

Keiser

Salinas

DeWan

et al. 2019

Paediatric Perinatal Epid

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For example, Geronimus et al (2006) used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES IV) to investigate whether young and middle-aged African Americans had a greater biological stress score as measured through 10 biomarkers (including blood pressure, body mass index, C-reactive protein, total cholesterol, among others) compared with Non-Hispanic Whites. They found that the mean biological stress score among African Americans was similar to that for Non-Hispanic Whites who were 10 years older, suggesting that stressors among African Americans led to accelerated aging (see also, Levine and Crimmins, 2014 , Thorpe et al, 2016 ). Thus, this hypothesis suggests that African Americans might have poorer cardiovascular, metabolic, and immune health.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Beta-amyloid and Cortical Thickness Reveal Racial Disparities in Preclinical Alzheimer's Disease

McDonough¹

2017

NeuroImage: Clinical

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

African Americans are two to four times more likely to develop dementia as Non-Hispanic Whites. This increased risk among African Americans represents a critical health disparity that affects nearly 43 million Americans. The present study tested the hypothesis that older African Americans with elevated beta-amyloid would show greater neurodegeneration (smaller hippocampal volumes and decreased cortical thickness) than older Non-Hispanic Whites with elevated beta-amyloid. Data from the Harvard Aging Brain Study (HABS) were used to form a group of older African Americans and two matched groups of Non-Hispanic White adults. Amyloid-positive African Americans had decreased cortical thickness in most of the Alzheimer's disease (AD) signature regions compared with amyloid-positive Non-Hispanic Whites. This factor was negatively correlated with age and white matter hypointensities. Using support vector regression, we also found some evidence that African Americans have an older “brain age” than Non-Hispanic Whites. These findings suggest that African Americans might be more susceptible to factors causing neurodegeneration, which then might accelerate the rate of a diagnosis of AD.

show abstract

“…Griffith and colleagues have highlighted the critical role that age or phase of life plays in relation to structures that shape Black men’s health in ways that foreground their efforts to embody positive and prosocial ideals of manhood ( Griffith, 2015 ; Griffith & Cornish, 2016 ; Griffith, Cornish, Bergner, Bruce, & Beech, 2017 ; Griffith, Cornish, McKissic, & Dean, 2016 ; Griffith et al, 2013 ; Griffith, Gunter, & Allen, 2011 ). Yet the stress of their engagement with educational, economic, social, and legal systems may drive the high rates of premature mortality and physiological aging that have become synonymous with Black men’s health ( Bruce, Griffith, & Thorpe Jr, 2015a ; Bruce, Griffith, & Thorpe Jr, 2015b ; Thorpe Jr, Duru, & Hill, 2015 ; Thorpe Jr & Kelley-Moore, 2013 ; Thorpe et al, 2016 ).…”

Section: Centering the Margins: The Promise Of Intersectionality In Mmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Centering the Margins”: Moving Equity to the Center of Men’s Health Research

Griffith

2018

Am J Mens Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

How might the science of men’s health progress if research on marginalized or subordinated men is moved from the margins of the literature to the center? This commentary seeks to answer this question, suggesting that if more attention is paid to men of color and other marginalized men, the field will be greatly enriched in its ability to understand determinants of men’s health. Reimagining men’s health by moving men’s health disparities to a primary focus of the field may yield critical new insights that would be essential to moving men’s health to the center of health equity research. Focusing on the dual goals of improving the health of marginalized men and examining the determinants of disparities among men and between men and women will yield insights into mechanisms, pathways, and strategies to improve men’s health and address health disparities. Current definitions of health disparities limit the nation’s ability to dedicate resources to populations that need attention—men of color and other marginalized men—that do not fit these definitions. Moving marginalized men to the center of research in men’s health will foster new ways of understanding determinants of men’s health that cannot be identified without focusing on populations of men whose health is as influenced by race, ethnicity, and other structures of marginalization as it is by gender and masculinities. Using Black men as a case example, the article illustrates how studying marginalized men can refine the study of men’s health and health equity.

show abstract

Accelerated Health Declines among African Americans in the USA

Cited by 71 publications

References 59 publications

Risks of preterm birth among non‐Hispanic black and non‐Hispanic white women: Effect modification by maternal age

Risks of preterm birth among non‐Hispanic black and non‐Hispanic white women: Effect modification by maternal age

Beta-amyloid and Cortical Thickness Reveal Racial Disparities in Preclinical Alzheimer's Disease

“Centering the Margins”: Moving Equity to the Center of Men’s Health Research

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About