Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 Jul;22(7):698-704.
doi: 10.1038/ajh.2009.72. Epub 2009 Apr 23.

The effects of ethnic discrimination and socioeconomic status on endothelin-1 among blacks and whites

Denise C Cooper  1 , Paul J Mills, Wayne A Bardwell, Michael G Ziegler, Joel E Dimsdale
Affiliations

The effects of ethnic discrimination and socioeconomic status on endothelin-1 among blacks and whites

Denise C Cooper et al. Am J Hypertens. 2009 Jul.

Abstract

Background: Ethnic disparities in cardiovascular disease (CVD) may partially reflect differences in chronic stress burden that vary by social class and exposure to ethnic discrimination. Stress is associated with increased endothelin-1 (ET-1). This study examined the relationship of ET-1 to socioeconomic status (SES) and to perceived ethnic discrimination among black (n = 51) and white (n = 65) adults (mean age 36.5).

Methods: The Perceived Discrimination subscale of the Scale of Ethnic Experience measured exposure to discrimination and the Hollingshead Two-Factor Index of Social Position assessed SES. Plasma ET-1 was sampled upon awakening after an overnight admission.

Results: SES and ET-1 levels were similar across ethnic groups, but mean discrimination scores were higher among blacks than whites (P < 0.001). Multiple regressions found that the SES x ethnicity interaction was associated with ET-1 (P < 0.05), after adjustment for gender, resting mean arterial pressure (MAP), body mass index (BMI), and exercise frequency. Regressions stratified by ethnicity revealed that lower SES correlated with higher ET-1 in whites (P < 0.001), but not blacks, and accounted for 21% of the variance. Another series of regressions revealed an interaction effect of ethnicity by discrimination on ET-1 (P < 0.05). Increased discrimination correlated with increased ET-1 among blacks (P < 0.05), but not whites, and explained 11% of the variance after adjustment for SES, gender, exercise frequency, and socially desirable response bias.

Conclusions: Thus, ET-1 levels increased in association with different psychosocial burdens in blacks and whites. Plasma ET-1 was higher among whites with lower SES and among blacks with higher levels of perceived ethnic discrimination, regardless of SES.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: The authors declared no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Plot of socioeconomic status (SES) (i.e., social index scores) on endothelin-1 (ET-1). (Higher social index scores reflect lower SES.) As SES decreased, resting levels of ET-1 increased among whites (dashed regression line), but not blacks (solid regression line).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Plot of perceived discrimination scores on endothelin-1 (ET-1). Increasing discrimination was associated with increases in ET-1 among blacks (solid regression line), but not whites (dashed regression line).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. Cooper R, Rotimi C, Ataman S, McGee D, Osotimehin B, Kadiri S, Muna W, Kingue S, Fraser H, Forrester T, Bennett F, Wilks R. The prevalence of hypertension in seven populations of west African origin. Am J Public Health. 1997;87:160–168. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sprafka JM, Folsom AR, Burke GL, Edlavitch SA. Prevalence of cardiovascular disease risk factors in blacks and whites: the Minnesota Heart Survey. Am J Public Health. 1988;78:1546–1549. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baum A, Garofalo JP, Yali AM. Socioeconomic status and chronic stress. Does stress account for SES effects on health? Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1999;896:131–144. - PubMed
    1. Bell AC, Adair LS, Popkin BM. Understanding the role of mediating risk factors and proxy effects in the association between socio-economic status and untreated hypertension. Soc Sci Med. 2004;59:275–283. - PubMed
    1. Pickering T. Cardiovascular pathways: socioeconomic status and stress effects on hypertension and cardiovascular function. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1999;896:262–277. - PubMed

Publication types