Racial discrimination predicts greater systemic inflammation in pregnant African American women.
Carmen Giurgescu, Christopher G Engeland, Thomas N Templin and 3 others
PMID 27969060WHAT IT FOUND
Pregnant African American women who reported racial discrimination had higher second trimester inflammation markers IL-4 and IL-6.
It is a link, not proof that discrimination caused inflammation.
Key findings
0151 of 96 women analysed (53.1%) reported one or more experiences of racial discrimination.
02Women reporting racial discrimination had higher IL-4 (r = .270, p = .008) and IL-6 (r = .236, p = .021).
03When controlling for covariates, racial discrimination was positively associated with IL-4 (B = 2.161, 95% CI = 1.02 to 3.30, p < .001) and IL-6 (B = 1.859, 95% CI = .61 to 3.11, p = .004).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was cross-sectional and measured everything once, so it cannot show that racial discrimination caused inflammation. The analysed sample was small (96 women) and came from one midwifery practice, mostly from lower socioeconomic status, so results may not apply to other settings. Women had low-risk pregnancies only, so it says nothing about high-risk pregnancies. Cytokine levels can change across pregnancy, and this study collected data only during the second trimester. Some cytokine samples were below detection limits and were set to zero. Racial discrimination was self-reported and was dichotomised because of skewness.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that racial discrimination caused inflammation or that asking about discrimination will improve birth outcomes. This was a cross-sectional association in 96 low-risk pregnant African American women, and no intervention was tested.