Social context as an explanation for race disparities in hypertension: Findings from the Exploring Health Disparities in Integrated Communities (EHDIC) Study

Roland J. Thorpe , Dwayne T. Brandon and Thomas A. LaVeist

Social Science & Medicine, 2008, vol. 67, issue 10, 1604-1611

Abstract: Disparities in hypertension between African Americans and non-Hispanic whites have been well-documented, yet an explanation for this persistent disparity remains elusive. Since African Americans and non-Hispanic white Americans tend to live in very different social environments, it is not known whether race disparities in hypertension would persist if non-Hispanic whites and African Americans were exposed to similar social environments. We compared data from the Exploring Health Disparities in Integrated Communities-SWB (EHDIC-SWB) Study with the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2004 to determine if race disparities in hypertension in the USA were attenuated in EHDIC-SWB, which is based in a racially integrated community without race differences in income. Hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure (BP)Â >=Â 140Â mmHg (millimeters of mercury) and/or diastolic BPÂ >=Â 90Â mmHg or respondent's report of taking antihypertensive medications. Of the 1408 study participants, 835 (59.3%) were African American, 628 (44.6%) were men, and the mean age was 40.6 years. After adjustment for potential confounders, various analytic models from EHDIC-SWB and NHANES 1999-2004 data, we found the race odds ratio was between 29.0% and 34% smaller in the EHDIC-SWB sample. We conclude that social and environmental exposures explained a substantial proportion of the race difference in hypertension.

Keywords: Racial; disparities; Hypertension; Residential; segregation; Confounding; race; and; socioeconomic; status; (SES); Integrated; community; USA (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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