Relationships between skin color, income, and blood pressure among African Americans in the CARDIA Study.
OBJECTIVE
We explored how income and skin color interact to influence the blood pressure of African American adults enrolled in the longitudinal Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study.


METHODS
Data were derived from 1893 African American CARDIA year-15 participants who had undergone skin reflectance assessments at year 7. We adjusted for age, gender, body mass index, smoking status, and use of antihypertensive medication to examine whether year-15 self-reported family incomes, in interaction with skin reflectance, predicted blood pressure levels.


RESULTS
Mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels were 117.1 (+/-16.07) and 76.9 (+/-12.5) mm Hg, respectively. After adjustment, the interaction between skin reflectance and income was significantly associated with systolic blood pressure (P< .01). Among lighter-skinned African Americans, systolic pressure decreased as income increased (b= -1.15, P<.001); among those with darker skin, systolic blood pressure increased with increasing income (b=0.10, P=.75).


CONCLUSIONS
The protective gradient of income on systolic blood pressure seen among African Americans with lighter skin is not observed to the same degree among those with darker skin. Psychosocial stressors, including racial discrimination, may play a role in this relationship.
Sweet
Elizabeth
E
Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill 60208, USA.
McDade
Thomas W
TW
Kiefe
Catarina I
CI
Liu
Kiang
K
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012880:Skin Pigmentation; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000208:ethnology / Q000503:physiopathology; D014481:United States