#81 Unfair treatment and hypertension prevalence in the ypsilanti everyday stress (Yes) Health study

PURPOSE: A large amount of research focuses on socioeconomic status (SES) to explain racial disparities in hypertension. But, little research has focused on associations between hypertension and the amount of exposure to or type of unfair treatment as an explanation for these disparities. We hypothesize that an association exists between prevalent hypertension and total exposure to unfair treatment in employment, housing, education, the legal system, and/or other service situations. METHODS: The YES Health Study is a pilot study of 98 Black and White adults, from low and middle SES neighborhoods, designed to examine macro and micro factors in the etiology and course of physical and mental health using quantitative and qualitative data. We modeled associations between hypertension and total exposure to unfair treatment in each of the five domains listed above, using full and race-stratified models, with adjustment for sex, age, neuroticism, education, and income. RESULTS: In the full model, we found no racial differences in hypertension, but a borderline significant association between hypertension and greater-or-equal, slanted3 occurrences of unfair treatment in dealing with the police or courts vs. none (OR = 3.72, P = 0.056). In the race-stratified models, hypertension was not significantly associated with lifelong exposure to unfair treatment among White or Black adults, except for an association with greater-or-equal, slanted3 occurrences of unfair treatment in employment vs. none for White adults (OR = 17.66, P = 0.022). White adults with lower education and Black adults older in age were also at significantly increased risk of hypertension. CONCLUSION: Hypertension was not associated with unfair treatment in the full model or for Black adults; however, our analysis was limited to acute stressors. Future research on the relationship between hypertension and unfair treatment should evaluate the extent to which unfair treatment is perceived as race-attributed and should examine the role of chronic stressors.