Perceived major experiences of discrimination, ethnic group, and risk of psychosis in a six-country case-control study

Supriya Misra, Bizu Gelaye, David R. Williams, Karestan C. Koenen, Christina P. C. Borba, Diego Quattrone, Marta di Forti, Giada Tripoli, Caterina la Cascia, Daniele la Barbera, Laura Ferraro, Ilaria Tarricone, Domenico Berardi, Antonio Lasalvia, Sarah Tosato, Andrei Szöke, Pierre-Michel Llorca, Celso Arango, Andrea Tortelli, Lieuwe de HaanEva Velthorst, Julio Bobes, Miguel Bernardo, Julio Sanjuán, Jose Luis Santos, Manuel Arrojo, Cristina Marta del-Ben, Paulo Rossi Menezes, Jean-Paul Selten, Peter B. Jones, Hannah E. Jongsma, James B. Kirkbride, Bart P. F. Rutten, Jim van Os, Robin M. Murray, Charlotte Gayer-Anderson, Craig Morgan

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Abstract

Background Perceived discrimination is associated with worse mental health. Few studies have assessed whether perceived discrimination (i) is associated with the risk of psychotic disorders and (ii) contributes to an increased risk among minority ethnic groups relative to the ethnic majority. Methods We used data from the European Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions Work Package 2, a population-based case-control study of incident psychotic disorders in 17 catchment sites across six countries. We calculated odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for the associations between perceived discrimination and psychosis using mixed-effects logistic regression models. We used stratified and mediation analyses to explore differences for minority ethnic groups. Results Reporting any perceived experience of major discrimination (e.g. unfair treatment by police, not getting hired) was higher in cases than controls (41.8% v. 34.2%). Pervasive experiences of discrimination (≥3 types) were also higher in cases than controls (11.3% v. 5.5%). In fully adjusted models, the odds of psychosis were 1.20 (95% CI 0.91-1.59) for any discrimination and 1.79 (95% CI 1.19-1.59) for pervasive discrimination compared with no discrimination. In stratified analyses, the magnitude of association for pervasive experiences of discrimination appeared stronger for minority ethnic groups (OR = 1.73, 95% CI 1.12-2.68) than the ethnic majority (OR = 1.42, 95% CI 0.65-3.10). In exploratory mediation analysis, pervasive discrimination minimally explained excess risk among minority ethnic groups (5.1%). Conclusions Pervasive experiences of discrimination are associated with slightly increased odds of psychotic disorders and may minimally help explain excess risk for minority ethnic groups.
Original languageEnglish
JournalPsychological Medicine
Early online date2021
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 2021

Keywords

  • Case-control
  • discrimination
  • first-episode
  • minority ethnic group
  • multi-country
  • psychosis
  • psychotic disorder

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