Study explores stress, racism connection
African American women who expect racism at the doctor's office are more likely to have an abnormal thickening of the walls of their heart arteries, according to a Rollins study.
Due to past events, many African Americans expect to incur racism at a doctor's office and as a result suffer stress because of that expectation, notes Tené Lewis, associate professor of epidemiology, who led the study.
Even if a racist incident does not occur, the body still experiences chronic stress in anticipation. Chronic stress and the thickening of the heart artery walls are common risk factors in cardiovascular disease, she says.
The study involved 54 relatively healthy black women between the ages of 30 and 50 and took into account other risk factors such as blood pressure and obesity.
"We've learned a lot over the past decade about actual experiences of racism and health, but we don't know very much about how expectations of racism impact health," says Lewis. "Our findings are preliminary, but they provide a strong foundation for next steps in furthering our understanding."
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Story: "Expectations of racism may be linked to cardiovascular disease in African-American women"
