title: Perceived discrimination is associated with health behaviours among African-Americans in the Jackson Heart Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Using Jackson Heart Study data, we examined associations of multiple measures of perceived discrimination with health behaviours among African-Americans (AA).
  
  
  METHODS
  The cross-sectional associations of everyday, lifetime and burden of discrimination with odds of smoking and mean differences in physical activity, dietary fat and sleep were examined among 4925 participants aged 35-84 years after adjustment for age and socioeconomic status (SES).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Men reported slightly higher levels of everyday and lifetime discrimination than women and similar levels of burden of discrimination as women. After adjustment for age and SES, everyday discrimination was associated with more smoking and a greater percentage of dietary fat in men and women (OR for smoking: 1.13, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.28 and 1.19, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.34; mean difference in dietary fat: 0.37, p<0.05 and 0.43, p<0.01, in men and women, respectively). Everyday and lifetime discrimination were associated with fewer hours of sleep in men and women (mean difference for everyday discrimination: -0.08, p<0.05 and -0.18, p<0.001, respectively; and mean difference for lifetime discrimination: -0.08, p<0.05 and -0.24, p<0.001, respectively). Burden of discrimination was associated with more smoking and fewer hours of sleep in women only.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Higher levels of perceived discrimination were associated with select health behaviours among men and women. Health behaviours offer a potential mechanism through which perceived discrimination affects health in AA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, Mississippi, USA.
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sims
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Ana V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Diez-Roux
authors.affiliation: Metabolic, Cardiovascular and Inflammatory Disease Genomics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Samson Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Gebreab
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
authors.forename: Allison
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4004-664X
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brenner
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, North Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dubbert
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, Mississippi, USA.
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wyatt
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology and Criminology, Jackson State University, Jackson, Mississippi, USA.
authors.forename: Marino
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bruce
authors.affiliation: Center for Research, Evaluation and Environmental & Policy Change, My Brother's Keeper, Inc, Jackson, Mississippi, USA.
authors.forename: DeMarc
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hickson
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology & Communicative Sciences, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, Mississippi, USA.
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Payne
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Research Institute, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
authors.forename: Herman
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Taylor
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008922:Mississippi; D063508:Social Discrimination; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Epidemiology of cardiovascular disease; HEALTH BEHAVIOUR; Health inequalities; PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS; SOCIAL EPIDEMIOLOGY