Racial and Ethnic Discrimination and Hypertension by Educational Attainment Among a Cohort of US Women
Authors: Gaston Symielle A. , Forde Allana T. , Green Michael , Sandler Dale P. , Jackson Chandra L. 
Published: November 2023

Importance

Although understudied, there are likely within-group differences among minoritized racial and ethnic groups in associations between racial and ethnic discrimination (RED) and hypertension risk, as minoritized individuals with higher educational attainment may more frequently encounter stress-inducing environments (eg, professional workplace settings, higher-income stores and neighborhoods) characterized by, for instance, exclusion and antagonism.

Objectives

To investigate educational attainment as a potential effect modifier of associations between RED and hypertension risk among US women; the study hypothesis was that the magnitude of associations would be stronger among participants with higher vs lower educational attainment.

Design, Setting, and Participants

This is a nested case-control study using Sister Study data collected at enrollment (2003-2009) and over follow-up visits until September 2019. Among eligible US Black or African American (hereafter Black), Latina, and non-Hispanic White women without prior hypertension diagnoses, incidence density sampling was performed to select self-reported hypertension cases that developed over a mean (SD) follow-up 11 (3) years. Data were analyzed August 2022 to February 2023.

Exposures

Participants reported lifetime everyday (eg, unfair treatment at a business) and major (eg, mistreatment by police) RED via a self-administered questionnaire.

Main Outcome and Measures

Adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, conditional logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs for associations between RED and hypertension by educational attainment category at baseline (college or higher, some college, and high school or less) within racial and ethnic groups.

Results

Among 5179 cases (338 [6.5%] Black; 200 [3.9%] Latina; and 4641 [89.6%] non-Hispanic White) and 10:1 race and ethnicity– and age-matched control participants with a mean (SD) age of 55 (9) years at enrollment, half (49.9%) of women reported attaining college or higher education, and Black women with college or greater education had the highest burden of RED (eg, 83% of case participants with college or higher education reported everyday RED compared with 64% of case participants with high school or less education). Everyday RED was associated with higher hypertension risk among Black women with college or higher education (OR, 1.56 [95% CI, 1.06-2.29]) but not among Black women with some college (OR, 0.72 [95% CI, 0.47-1.11]), with evidence of both multiplicative and additive interaction. Results for Black women with high school or less education suggested increased risk, but confidence intervals were wide, and the result was not statistically significant but may be clinically significant (OR, 1.89 [95% CI, 0.83-4.31]). Educational attainment was not a modifier among other racial and ethnic groups or for associations with major RED.

Conclusions and Relevance

In this nested case-control study of RED and hypertension risk, chronic or everyday RED-associated hypertension disproportionately affected Black women with the highest levels of educational attainment.