High blood pressure, commonly known as hypertension in the medical community, is a condition of abnormal blood pressure developed over long periods, which eventually causes damage to blood vessels and organs like the heart, brain, kidneys, and eyes if left unchecked.
Recent statistics show that race actually plays a big role in hypertension incidence.
In general, African Americans are more susceptible to cardiovascular conditions than their Caucasian counterparts. According to the American Heart Association's website, not only are African Americans more vulnerable to high blood pressure but obesity and diabetes as well. To illustrate, African American's have the highest incidence rates of hypertension across the whole world.
Looking deeper into this phenomenon, a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association examined the association of self-reported stress levels on the development of cardiovascular diseases like hypertension in African Americans. What's notable about this study is that it adjusted for several elements like social demographics, psychosocial factors, and health behaviors which could impact the data.
Looking at the Jackson Heart Study community, over 1800 African Americans without hypertension chose to become participants in the study. Over the course of several years, they went through three clinical exams and multiple follow-up assessments to determine their vitals, their risk to cardiovascular disease, as well as their self-reported exposure to chronic stress over the long term.
After an average of around seven years, almost 50% of the total number of participants developed incident hypertension. Those who reported low-stress levels had a hypertension incidence rate of 30.6%, moderate stress levels at 34.6%, and high-stress levels at 38.2%. Adjusting for factors like age, sex, and time, those with high reported stress levels had an increased risk of developing hypertension at 22% at the seven-year mark, compared to those with moderate stress levels at 15%. The same trend was also observed when adjusted with respect to sociodemographic, clinical, and behavioral factors as well.
Quite simply, higher perceived stress equals to a higher risk of developing hypertension in African Americans, which was found to be statistically significant. If anything, this study further highlights the effects of higher chronic stress and its long-term effects on the body.
Several common factors were found in those that developed high blood pressure in that they were more likely to be older, not have received a high school education, smoked, didn't indulge in alcohol, and had lower physical activity levels.
The study also raises more questions: with African Americans disproportionally affected by more stress factors, like discrimination and socioeconomic status, compared to their Caucasian counterparts, how should healthcare systems respond?
Knowing that higher stress levels can significantly affect cardiovascular health, the authors suggest the development of new culturally sensitive stress management interventions as a way to support primary hypertension prevention, although studies would be needed to determine the effectiveness of these. Tailoring these healthcare systems with regards to race could be the first step in lowering incidence rates of cardiovascular conditions like hypertension in African American communities.
