Racial discrimination and biological dysregulation among Indigenous adults: The role of culture

Abstract

Abstract Background Racial discrimination is an ongoing social concern that requires public health solidarity to address. Indigenous peoples in many countries report high levels of discrimination across a variety of life domains, particularly when they migrate into urban centres for school or work. Discrimination has wide-ranging impacts that go beyond mental distress to include alterations in stress biomarkers across multiple systems. This study examined the impacts of discrimination on multisystem biological dysregulation among urban Indigenous adults in Canada, operationalized through allostatic load; and the role that Indigenous cultural continuity might play in resilience. Methods This cross-sectional study collected data from 150 Indigenous adults attending university in a small city in western Canada between 2015 and 2017 (M age: 28 years). Allostatic load (AL) was measured as a composite of 7 biomarkers assessing neuroendocrine, cardiovascular, metabolic, and immune system function. Bias-corrected and accelerated bootstrapped linear regression models examined associations adjusted for confounders. Results Past-year discrimination was significantly and linearly associated with increased AL adjusting for age and income (B = 0.17, p = 0.02). Among adults with low cultural continuity, past-year discrimination was associated with AL in models adjusted for age and child discrimination (B = 0.17, p = 0.01), with past-year discrimination and the full model explaining 24% and 41% of the variance in AL; respectively. Among adults with high cultural continuity, past-year discrimination was not associated with AL, and the full model explained 1% of the variance in AL. Conclusions Past-year racial discrimination was an adverse event capable of influencing multisystem biological dysregulation among Indigenous adults, independent of age and income. Indigenous cultural continuity may promote biological resilience against racism within this population. Key messages Racial discrimination was associated with multisystem biological dysregulation among urban Indigenous adults, controlling for age and income. Indigenous cultural continuity buffered the impact of discrimination on biological health.