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The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences Advance Access published online on May 8, 2009
The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, doi:10.1093/gerona/glp062
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Perceived Discrimination and Blood Pressure in Older African American and White Adults

Tené T. Lewis1, Lisa L. Barnes2,3,4, Julia L. Bienias5,6, Daniel T. Lackland7, Denis A. Evans5,6 and Carlos F. Mendes de Leon5,6

1 Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
2 Department of Neurological Sciences
3 Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center
4 Department of Behavioral Sciences
5 Department of Internal Medicine
6 Institute for Healthy Aging, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois
7 Department of Biostatistics, Bioinformatics, and Epidemiology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston

Address correspondence to Tené T. Lewis, PhD, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, 60 College Street, 4th Floor, New Haven, CT 06511. Email: tene.lewis{at}yale.edu


  Abstract

Background.: The current study was designed to examine the cross-sectional association between perceived discrimination and blood pressure (BP) in a sample of older African American and white adults. We hypothesized that perceived discrimination would be associated with higher levels of BP and that this association would be stronger for older African Americans compared with whites.

Methods.: Participants were 4,694 (60% African American, 60% women) community-dwelling older adults. Perceived discrimination and other relevant risk factors were assessed via interview, and BP was measured using standard sphygmomanometers. Multivariate linear regression models were conducted to test associations among race, perceived discrimination, and BP.

Results.: In models adjusted for age, sex, race, and education, perceived discrimination was not associated with higher levels of systolic blood pressure (p = .10) but was associated with higher levels of diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (p = .01). Further analyses revealed that the association between perceived discrimination and DBP was present in older African Americans (p = .0003) but not whites (p = .46). Results persisted after adjusting for relevant risk factors.

Conclusions.: Findings suggest that discrimination may be a unique risk factor for elevated DBP in older African Americans. Because these findings are cross-sectional, additional research is needed to determine whether the observed associations persist over time.

Keywords Discrimination (psychology); Blood pressure; African Americans; Whites; Aging; Prejudice

Received: September 15, 2008; Accepted: March 29, 2009

Decision Editor: Luigi Ferrucci, MD, PhD


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