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Published on: June 10, 2018
Perceived discrimination and hypertension among African Americans in the Jackson Heart Study
Mario Sims1, Ana V Diez-Roux, Amanda Dudley
1Department of Medicine, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS 39213, USA. msims2@umc.edu
Objectives:
Using Jackson Heart Study data, we examined whether perceived discrimination was associated with prevalent hypertension in African Americans.
Methods:
Everyday discrimination, lifetime discrimination, burden of discrimination, and stress from discrimination were examined among 4939 participants aged 35 to 84 years (women = 3123; men = 1816). We estimated prevalence ratios of hypertension by discrimination, and adjusted for age, gender, socioeconomic status, and risk factors.
Results:
The prevalence of hypertension was 64.0% in women and 59.7% in men. After adjustment for age, gender, and socioeconomic status, lifetime discrimination and burden of discrimination were associated with greater hypertension prevalence (prevalence ratios for highest vs lowest quartile were 1.08 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.02, 1.15] and 1.09 [95% CI = 1.02,1.16] for lifetime discrimination and burden of discrimination, respectively). Associations were slightly weakened after adjustment for body mass index and behavioral factors. No associations were observed for everyday discrimination.
Conclusions:
Further understanding the role of perceived discrimination in the etiology of hypertension may be beneficial in eliminating hypertension disparities.
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