Study links discrimination to high blood pressure among blacks

Jet, Nov 11, 1996

A recent study says that racial discrimination in the treatment of Blacks may partially explain their high incidence of high blood pressure.

The study found that Blacks who typically accepted unfair treatment had higher blood pressure than those who challenged it.

"Individuals belonging to groups subjected to discrimination may be at a lower risk of an elevated blood pressure if they are able to articulate, rather than internalize, their experiences," researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Kaiser Foundation Research Institute said.

High blood pressure, a major cause of heart disease, strokes and kidney failure, affects about 62 million Americans and is a huge health risk for everyone. But Blacks get hypertension one-third more often than Whites, get it earlier in life and suffer more severe health consequences.

Researchers questioned 4,086 people aged 18 to 30 and found differences between Black men and women and between working-class and professional Blacks.

Working-class Blacks were found more likely to have high blood pressure than professionals. Among them, the highest levels were found in working-class women who "accepted unfair treatment as a fact of life" and kept it to themselves and among working-class men who accepted unfair treatment but talked to others.

Black professionals had the lowest blood pressure if they faced little or no discrimination and challenged unfair treatment.

For the nonprofessionals, reporting no prejudice and exhibiting no challenge of unfair acts were linked to high blood pressure as well. Chronic stress, known to boost blood pressure, may be at work, Nancy Krieger of the Harvard University School of Public Health said in the USA Today.