African-Americans who had experienced the stress of lifetime discrimination were up to 50 percent more likely to develop high blood pressure than those who reported lower levels of discrimination.
It found that African-Americans who had experienced the stress of lifetime discrimination were up to 50 percent more likely to develop high blood pressure than those who reported lower levels of discrimination.
Previous studies have examined the contribution of discrimination to racial disparities in high blood pressure, but with mixed findings.
The authors of the current study looked for a link between those forms of discrimination and the likelihood of developing high blood pressure.
People who reported medium levels of lifetime discrimination were 49 percent more likely to have high blood pressure than those who reported low levels, even after taking into account well-established risk factors for high blood pressure, such as age, body mass index, physical activity and income level.
