Race and perceived racism, education, and hypertension among Brazilian civil servants: the Pró-Saúde Study

Abstract

Racism may increase the risk of hypertension of afrodescendants in Brazil, and socioeconomic disadvantage--also influenced by societal racism--may further potentiate this increased risk.

Socioeconomic Position, But Not African Genomic Ancestry, Is Associated With Blood Pressure in the Bambui-Epigen (Brazil) Cohort Study of Aging

“…6,8,9 Previous Brazilian studies, based on ethnoracial self-classification, reported greater prevalence of high blood pressure or hypertension among self-reported black adults 10 and among blacks who reported having discrimination. 11 The Bambui-Epigen Cohort Study of Aging was conducted in a well-defined population of older adults in Brazil's Southeast region. 12 We used 370 539 single-nucleotide polymorphisms to examine the association between genome-wide proportions of African ancestry with baseline and 11-year blood pressure and controlled hypertension in participants of this cohort, taking into account an array of demographic…”

Association between perceived racial discrimination and hypertension: findings from the ELSA-Brasil study

“…Ryan et al 47 , using an adaptation of the Reactions to Race module 48 , found an association between perceived racial discrimination and hypertension, as did Sims et al 46 , Krieger & Sidney 49 , and Brondolo et al 11 . In Brazil, the only study found on the subject categorized participants as whites or blacks (i.e., "pardos" and blacks were grouped together), and its results show a positive association 3 .…”

“…The following response options were offered: your color or race; you being a man or woman; your religion or creed; disease or physical disability; your sexual orientation or preference; your economic status, education or function; your political activity; your age; your physical appearance; and other. The test-retest reliability study (yes/no discrimination) of the version used in this study had a value of 0.85 (kappa coefficient) in a similar population 3 .…”

“…Brazilian studies of racial health inequalities and the association between perceived racial discrimination and health outcomes are quite scarce 3,5,14,28,29 . As far as we could determine, the only study published on the subject 3 was based on too small a number of participants to investigate possible differences between "pardos" and blacks for the strength of the association between racial discrimination and hypertension.…”

Profile of Hiperdia patients in the municipality of Barra Bonita, Sao Paulo state

“…In 2007, about 72% of the deaths were attributed to these diseases (2). Among the NCDs, the systemic arterial hypertension (SAH) and the diabetes mellitus (DM) are considered the main risk factors for the development of heart diseases, such as the acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and the stroke (EVA), besides the chronic kidney disease (1,3).…”