Racial discrimination and blood pressure: the CARDIA Study of young black and white adults.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: This study examined associations between blood pressure and self reported experiences of racial discrimination and responses to unfair treatment. METHODS: Survey data were collected in year 7 (1992/93) of the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, a prospective multisite community-based investigation. Participants included 831 Black men, 1143 Black women, 1006 White men, and 1106 White women 25 to 37 years old. RESULTS: Systolic blood pressure among working-class Black adults reporting that they typically accepted unfair treatment and had experienced racial discrimination in none of seven situations was about 7 mm Hg higher than among those reporting that they challenged unfair treatment and experienced racial discrimination in one or two of the situations. Among professional Black adults, systolic blood pressure was 9 to 10 mm Hg lower among those reporting that they typically challenged unfair treatment and had not experienced racial discrimination. Black-White differences in blood pressure were substantially reduced by taking into account reported experiences of racial discrimination and responses to unfair treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Research on racial/ ethnic distributions of blood pressure should take into account how discrimination may harm health.

Stability of blood pressure: is a sequential blood pressure reading protocol efficient for a large-scale community screening programme

“…Elevated BP is also more common among Black subjects than that among the other ethnic subgroups. [17][18][19] The differences among three blood pressure readings…”

Variations in breast carcinoma treatment in older medicare beneficiaries

“…However, rates failed to decline for older women, and older black women actually experienced an increase in mortality rates. [1][2][3] The observed excess mortality rates among older black women may be due to the interaction of several complex phenomena, including poverty, 4,5 culturally based attitudes, 6,7 bias in treatment, 5,8,9 stage at presentation, 10 -12 access to, or adequacy of treatment, 10,[13][14][15][16][17] tumor biology, 18 -23 and comorbid medical conditions. 24 In this study, data from a random sample of black and white Medicare beneficiaries treated in fee-forservice settings for local breast carcinoma are used to describe the associations between race and local treatment.…”

“Racism Still Exists”: A Public Health Intervention Using Racism “Countermarketing” Outdoor Advertising in a Black Neighborhood

“…Indeed, in some research, a seemingly paradoxical finding showed that working class Black women and men who denied experiencing discrimination had higher blood pressure than those who reported discrimination. 10 Others reported similar relationships related to health outcomes among a sample of gay men. 11 It would appear that acknowledging and expressing the existence of racism could counter these negative outcomes.…”