How stress gets under the skin: Everyday discrimination, inflammation and cancer risk in older adults

Cancer is a devastating disease predominately affecting older adults, with adults 65+ accounting for 70% of cancer-related deaths and over 60% of new diagnoses. Preliminary studies show that Black and Hispanic/Latine older adults are at an increased risk of diagnosis of advanced staged cancers and experience higher mortality rates from cancer than older adults of other racial/ethnic groups. Inflammation is one such risk factors in these sub-groups, specifically through chronic stressors like everyday discrimination (EDD). One way to measure this stress pathway is via inflammatory biomarkers like C-Reactive Protein (CRP) and Soluble Tumor Necrosis Factor-1 (sTNFR-1). Improving our understanding of the intersection between EDD and inflammatory biomarkers in disaggregated populations will help us identify high-risk groups to improve timeliness and diagnosis. We examined whether EDD is associated with elevated CRP and sTRNFR-1 levels, ultimately increasing cancer risk for minoritized populations. This study included White (n=3,187), Black (n=443), and Hispanic/Latine (n=375) older adults in the U.S. who were 65-95 years old in the 2016 Health and Retirement Venus Blood Biomarker Subsample . Results show that Black older adults experience more EDD and have higher average CRP [(4.93 mg/L (0.41)] and sTNFR-1 [(1840.88 pg/mL (85.3)] levels than White [CRP= 3.95 mg/L (0.16) ; sTNFR-1= 1807.21 pg/mL (20.7)] and Hispanic/Latine [CRP=4.50 mg/L (0.41); sTNFR-1=1806.75 pg/mL (67.43)] older adults. OLS regression models show reporting more experiences of EDD is associated with higher CRP levels (beta;= 0.23; p=0.03), specifically in Black older adults, but is not associated with higher levels of sTNFR-1. Logistic regression models show sTNFR-1 (OR=1.00; p=0.04) significantly increases the odds of being diagnosed with cancer in the full sample. Findings suggest that experiences of EDD may increase cancer risk, via inflammatory pathways like CRP.