Higher Everyday Discrimination Is Associated With Worse Motor Function Among Older Latino Adults

PURPOSE: Greater exposure to everyday discrimination is linked to poorer health outcomes across the lifespan, including worse motor function. However, the impact of everyday discrimination on motor function in older Latino adults remains underexplored. We assessed whether discrimination is associated with initial level and longitudinal change in motor function among older Latino adults. METHODS: Participants were older Latino adults from Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center cohorts (N = 286, average age = 70.7 ± 7.1 yrs, 77% female). Everyday discrimination experiences were quantified at baseline using the Detroit Areas Study Everyday Discrimination Scale. Participants completed 10 motor function tests at annual visits, summarized as an overall motor function composite and its component dexterity, gait, and hand strength scores, with approximately 4 visits per participant. Separate linear mixed-effects models tested associations of everyday discrimination with initial and longitudinal change in motor function and its composite scores, adjusting for age, sex, and education. Secondarily, we tested whether these associations were independent of depressive symptoms—a risk factor for late life motor impairment and discrimination. RESULTS: Higher baseline everyday discrimination levels were associated with worse initial motor function (β = -0.011, standard error [se] = 0.004, p < 0.01), but not with change in motor function over time. Higher everyday discrimination was also associated with worse initial gait (β = -0.012, se = 0.005, p < 0.05) and dexterity (β = -0.014, se = 0.004, p < 0.01), but not with hand strength. There were no associations of everyday discrimination with longitudinal change in any component score. When adjusting for depressive symptoms, only the association between everyday discrimination and initial dexterity remained significant. CONCLUSIONS: Among older Latino adults, higher everyday discrimination was associated with worse initial motor function (including gait and dexterity), but not with longitudinal change in motor function. Depressive symptoms may partially account for the observed associations between everyday discrimination and late life motor function, highlighting the need to explore the psychosocial mechanisms underlying these associations. Supported by: This work was supported by National Institutes of Health grants P30AG10161 and R01AG062711.