STRESS-RELATED RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AND HYPERTENSION LIKELIHOOD IN A POPULATION-BASED SAMPLE OF AFRICAN AMERICANS: THE METRO ATLANTA HEART DISEASE STUDY

has been identified as an adverse bio-psychosocial stressor that may be related to the prevalence of hypertension in African Americans. The overall objective of this research was to estimate aspects of the effects of self-reported exposure to stress-related racial discrimination and hyper-tension likelihood in a sample of African Americans. Data: Physiologic and self-reported cross-sectional data were collected on a stratified sample of hypertensive (n5174) and normo-tensive (n5182) African Americans, aged $21 years, residing in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia from 1999 through 2001. Method: Separate, multivariate logistic regres-sion models were fit, including relevant covariates, to ascertain the effects of exposure to incidents of stress-related racial discrimina-tion and level of generally derived stress with hypertension likelihood. Results: Exposure to incidents of racial dis-crimination was not significantly associated with an increased likelihood of hypertension. More than 74 % of respective normotensive and hypertensive respondents reportedly experienced stress-provoking encounters of racial discrimination. Magnitude of stress generally derived from exposure was, howev-er, a highly significant predictor. Respondents reporting ‘‘moderate’ ’ and a ‘‘high to very high’ ’ level of derived stress were more than twice as likely to be hypertensive when compared to those reporting ‘‘no to low’’ derived stress (P value5.02 and.01, respec-tively). Conclusion: Exposure to racial discri-mination is a prevalent psychosocial stressor in African Americans but may not be signifi-cantly associated with hypertension preva-lence; degree of stress derived from encoun-ters may be an important determinant. More research is needed to clarify the complex relationship between stress-related racial discrimination and hypertension i