IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v75y2012i9p1697-1707.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The contribution of stress to the social patterning of clinical and subclinical CVD risk factors in African Americans: The Jackson Heart Study

Author

Listed:
  • Gebreab, Samson Y.
  • Diez-Roux, Ana V.
  • Hickson, DeMarc A.
  • Boykin, Shawn
  • Sims, Mario
  • Sarpong, Daniel F.
  • Taylor, Herman A.
  • Wyatt, Sharon B.

Abstract

It is often hypothesized that psychosocial stress may contribute to associations of socioeconomic position (SEP) with risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, few studies have investigated this hypothesis among African Americans, who may be more frequently exposed to stressors due to social and economic circumstances. Cross-sectional data from the Jackson Heart Study (JHS), a large population-based cohort of African Americans, were used to examine the contributions of stressors to the association of SEP with selected cardiovascular (CVD) risk factors and subclinical atherosclerotic disease. Among women, higher income was associated with lower prevalence of hypertension, obesity, diabetes and carotid plaque and lower levels of stress. Higher stress levels were also weakly, albeit positively, associated with hypertension, diabetes, and obesity, but not with plaque. Adjustment for the stress measures reduced the associations of income with hypertension, diabetes and obesity by a small amount that was comparable to, or larger, than the reduction observed after adjustment for behavioral risk factors. In men, high income was associated with lower prevalence of diabetes and stressors were not consistently associated with any of the outcomes examined. Overall, modest mediation effects of stressors were observed for diabetes (15.9%), hypertension (9.7%), and obesity (5.1%) among women but only results for diabetes were statistically significant. No mediation effects of stressors were observed in men. Our results suggest that stressors may partially contribute to associations of SEP with diabetes and possibly hypertension and obesity in African American women. Further research with appropriate study designs and data is needed to understand the dynamic and interacting effects of stressors and behaviors on CVD outcomes as well as sex differences in these effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Gebreab, Samson Y. & Diez-Roux, Ana V. & Hickson, DeMarc A. & Boykin, Shawn & Sims, Mario & Sarpong, Daniel F. & Taylor, Herman A. & Wyatt, Sharon B., 2012. "The contribution of stress to the social patterning of clinical and subclinical CVD risk factors in African Americans: The Jackson Heart Study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(9), pages 1697-1707.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:75:y:2012:i:9:p:1697-1707
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.06.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953612004807
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.06.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wamala, S.P. & Mittleman, M.A. & Schenck-Gustafsson, K. & Orth-Gomer, K., 1999. "Erratum: Potential explanations for the educational gradient in coronary heart disease: A population-based case-control study of Swedish women (American Journal of Public Health (1999) 89 (315-321))," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 89(5), pages 785-785.
    2. Stronks, Karien & van de Mheen, H. & Looman, Caspar W. N. & Mackenbach, Johan P., 0. "The importance of psychosocial stressors for socio-economic inequalities in perceived health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 46(4-5), pages 611-623, February.
    3. Wamala, Sarah P. & Mittleman, Murray A. & Horsten, Myriam & Schenck-Gustafsson, Karin & Orth-Gomér, Kristina, 2000. "Job stress and the occupational gradient in coronary heart disease risk in women: The Stockholm Female Coronary Risk Study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 51(4), pages 481-489, August.
    4. Borrell, Luisa N. & Kiefe, Catarina I. & Williams, David R. & Diez-Roux, Ana V. & Gordon-Larsen, Penny, 2006. "Self-reported health, perceived racial discrimination, and skin color in African Americans in the CARDIA study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(6), pages 1415-1427, September.
    5. Macleod, John & Davey Smith, George & Metcalfe, Chris & Hart, Carole, 2005. "Is subjective social status a more important determinant of health than objective social status? Evidence from a prospective observational study of Scottish men," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(9), pages 1916-1929, November.
    6. Wamala, S.P. & Mittleman, M.A. & Schenck-Gustafsson, K. & Orth-Gomér, K., 1999. "Potential explanations for the educational gradient in coronary heart disease: A population-based case-control study of Swedish women," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 89(3), pages 315-321.
    7. Warren, John Robert & Hoonakker, Peter & Carayon, Pascale & Brand, Jennie, 2004. "Job characteristics as mediators in SES-health relationships," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(7), pages 1367-1378, October.
    8. Robbins, J.M. & Vaccarino, V. & Zhang, H. & Kasl, S.V., 2001. "Socioeconomic status and type 2 diabetes in African American and non-Hispanic White women and men: Evidence from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 91(1), pages 76-83.
    9. Roux, A.V.D., 2011. "Complex systems thinking and current impasses in health disparities research," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 101(9), pages 1627-1634.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sperlich, Stefanie & Geyer, Siegfried, 2015. "The mediating effect of effort-reward imbalance in household and family work on the relationship between education and women's health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 58-65.
    2. Clougherty, Jane Ellen & Eisen, Ellen A. & Slade, Martin D. & Kawachi, Ichiro & Cullen, Mark R., 2009. "Workplace status and risk of hypertension among hourly and salaried aluminum manufacturing employees," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 304-313, January.
    3. Jaffe, Dena H. & Eisenbach, Zvi & Neumark, Yehuda D. & Manor, Orly, 2006. "Effects of husbands' and wives' education on each other's mortality," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(8), pages 2014-2023, April.
    4. David Consolazio & Annemarie Koster & Simone Sarti & Miranda T Schram & Coen D A Stehouwer & Erik J Timmermans & Anke Wesselius & Hans Bosma, 2020. "Neighbourhood property value and type 2 diabetes mellitus in the Maastricht study: A multilevel study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(6), pages 1-13, June.
    5. Newton-Levinson, Anna & Higdon, Megan & Sales, Jessica & Gaydos, Laurie & Rochat, Roger, 2020. "Context matters: Using mixed methods timelines to provide an accessible and integrated visual for complex program evaluation data," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    6. Bolte, Gabriele, 2018. "Epidemiologische Methoden und Erkenntnisse als eine Grundlage für Stadtplanung und gesundheitsfördernde Stadtentwicklung," Forschungsberichte der ARL: Aufsätze, in: Baumgart, Sabine & Köckler, Heike & Ritzinger, Anne & Rüdiger, Andrea (ed.), Planung für gesundheitsfördernde Städte, volume 8, pages 118-134, ARL – Akademie für Raumentwicklung in der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft.
    7. McGill, Elizabeth & Er, Vanessa & Penney, Tarra & Egan, Matt & White, Martin & Meier, Petra & Whitehead, Margaret & Lock, Karen & Anderson de Cuevas, Rachel & Smith, Richard & Savona, Natalie & Rutter, 2021. "Evaluation of public health interventions from a complex systems perspective: A research methods review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).
    8. Ragna Stalsberg & Arve Vorland Pedersen, 2018. "Are Differences in Physical Activity across Socioeconomic Groups Associated with Choice of Physical Activity Variables to Report?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-23, May.
    9. Birgisdóttir, Kristín Helga & Hauksdóttir, Arna & Ruhm, Christopher & Valdimarsdóttir, Unnur Anna & Ásgeirsdóttir, Tinna Laufey, 2020. "The effect of the economic collapse in Iceland on the probability of cardiovascular events," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    10. Nobles, Jenna & Weintraub, Miranda Ritterman & Adler, Nancy E., 2013. "Subjective socioeconomic status and health: Relationships reconsidered," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 58-66.
    11. Meyer, Sophie-Charlotte & Künn-Nelen, Annemarie, 2014. "Do Occupational Demands Explain the Educational Gradient in Health?," IZA Discussion Papers 8011, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Bijou, Christina & Colen, Cynthia G, 2022. "Shades of health: Skin color, ethnicity, and mental health among Black Americans," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    13. Shoham, David A. & Vupputuri, Suma & Kaufman, Jay S. & Kshirsagar, Abhijit V. & Diez Roux, Ana V. & Coresh, Josef & Heiss, Gerardo, 2008. "Kidney disease and the cumulative burden of life course socioeconomic conditions: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(8), pages 1311-1320, October.
    14. Bradshaw, Matt & Ellison, Christopher G., 2010. "Financial hardship and psychological distress: Exploring the buffering effects of religion," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 196-204, July.
    15. Jerneja Farkas & Majda Pahor & Lijana Zaletel-Kragelj, 2011. "Self-rated health in different social classes of Slovenian adult population: nationwide cross-sectional study," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 56(1), pages 45-54, February.
    16. Terje A Eikemo & Rasmus Hoffmann & Margarete C Kulik & Ivana Kulhánová & Marlen Toch-Marquardt & Gwenn Menvielle & Caspar Looman & Domantas Jasilionis & Pekka Martikainen & Olle Lundberg & Johan P Mac, 2014. "How Can Inequalities in Mortality Be Reduced? A Quantitative Analysis of 6 Risk Factors in 21 European Populations," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(11), pages 1-1, November.
    17. Jason M. Orr & Jonathon P. Leider & Margaret J. Gutilla, 2023. "System approaches in governmental public health: Findings from an analysis of the literature," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(1), pages 159-169, January.
    18. D. Sittig & H. Friedel & J. Wasem, 2015. "Prevalence and treatment costs of type 2 diabetes in Germany and the effects of social and demographical differences," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 16(3), pages 305-311, April.
    19. Ramya Chari & Thomas A. Burke & Ronald H. White & Mary A. Fox, 2012. "Integrating Susceptibility into Environmental Policy: An Analysis of the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for Lead," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-20, March.
    20. Thompson, Kristina & Ophem, Johan van & Wagemakers, Annemarie, 2019. "Studying the impact of the Eurozone’s Great Recession on health: Methodological choices and challenges," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 162-184.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:75:y:2012:i:9:p:1697-1707. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.