'The brains of Black participants in mid-life looked like the brains of older adults': Study indicates that racial stressors causes the brains of Black Americans to age faster

A recent study found that racial stressors likely cause the brains of Black Americans to age faster.

According to Stat, analyzed MRI scans of nearly 1,500 participants and found that the brains of Black participants in mid-life looked like the brains of older adults, including features linked to Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, compared to samples from white and Hispanic adults. 

“The brains of Black participants in mid-life looked like the brains of older adults,” said Indira C. Turney, a cognitive neuroscientist and associate research scientist at Columbia who was the paper’s lead author, according to Stat. 

Researchers believe that the differences could not be linked to genetic factors, but rather to 'weathering' from racial stressors over time including stress from discrimination, poverty, residential segregation, pollution, and fears about personal safety. Weathering has been previously linked to depression, migraines, hypertension, and higher infant and maternal mortality.

“It’s evidence that when we think about outcomes in late life, a lot of those changes are starting earlier in life,” said senior author of the study and professor of neuropsychology at Columbia University Adam Brickman, according to Stat. “Cognitive aging is a lifelong phenomenon, not just something that happens when you turn 65.” 

According to the study, the differences in weathering between racial and ethnic groups among older adults were not as pronounced, suggesting that Black people who experience weathering early in life are less likely to survive to old age and that Black adults that do may have hardier and healthier brains.