Workplace discrimination may lead to high blood pressure: study

By James Gamble via SWNS

Being discriminated against can take a physical as well as a mental toll on victims in the form of high blood pressure up to eight years later, according to a new study.

U.S. researchers revealed in a new study that people who are discriminated against at work were far more likely to suffer from high blood pressure.

The American study surveyed more than a thousand workers over a period of eight years and found that those who reported high levels of discrimination at their workplace were more than half as likely to suffer from high blood pressure.

The authors of the groundbreaking research highlighted the importance of public awareness of the negative impacts - both mental and physical - that discrimination against someone's race, religion or age can have.

The research, from medical scientists at the American Heart Association (AHA), investigated data from the Midlife in the United States study (MIDUS), which reviewed a national sample of U.S. adults across a wide range of occupations and educational levels.

A group of 1,246 adults who were free of high blood pressure at the beginning of the study - between 2004 and 2006 - were followed for around eight years until 2013 or 2014.

Around a third of these adults were either younger than 45, aged 46 to 55 or 56 and older.

At the start of the study, most participants self-reported that they did not smoke, consumed low to moderate levels of alcohol and engaged in moderate-to-high physical exercise.

To assess levels of discrimination in the workplace, participants answered questions about their experiences such as whether they felt they were unfairly treated, watched more closely than colleagues or ignored more often than fellow colleagues.

The survey also asked questions about the frequency of sexual, racial or ethnic slurs and jokes at work, as well as if the participants felt promotions were awarded equally and fairly.

The researchers then calculated discrimination scores based on participants' responses and divided them into three groups based on their scores: low (scores of 6-7), intermediate (8-11) or high (12-30).

Their analysis discovered that of the 1,246 U.S. participants, 319 reported developing high blood pressure after approximately eight years of follow-up.

The findings also showed that those in the group with an intermediate discrimination score at the start of the study were nearly a quarter (22%) more likely than those with low scores to report high blood pressure during the eight-year follow-up.

However, those in the group with a high discrimination score at the start of the study were more than half as likely (56%) than those reporting a low score of reporting high blood pressure during the follow-up study.

The study's lead author, Dr. Jian Li, explained that few - if any - studies until now had focused on the negative health implications of discrimination in the workplace.

Dr. Li, who is a professor of work and health in the Fielding School of Public Health and the School of Nursing at the University of California, Los Angeles, said: "Scientists have studied the associations among systemic racism, discrimination and health consequences.

"However, few studies have looked specifically at the health impact of discrimination in the workplace, where adults, on average, spend more than one-third of their time.

"To the best of our knowledge, this is the first scientific evidence indicating workplace discrimination may increase people’s long-term risk of developing high blood pressure."

On the implications of his team's pioneering study, Dr. Li added: "First, we should increase public awareness that work is an important social determinant of health.

"Second, in addition to traditional risk factors, stressful experiences at work due to discrimination are an emerging risk factor for high blood pressure."

The authors suggested that organizational policies and intervention strategies, coupled with strong anti-discrimination policies, could allow employers to foster improvements in workers' coping mechanisms.

However, the researchers did admit to some limitations in their study.

For example, most participants who did not take part in the follow-up survey were more likely to be non-white, have lower education levels and work in positions with lower job control.

Crucially, this group which was less likely to participate in the follow-up survey were also found to have a higher hypertension prevalence.

High blood pressure was also self-reported as being doctor-diagnosed in the survey; leading the researchers to suggest that medical examinations in future studies may improve the validity of results.

The researchers also admitted that measurements of discrimination were also generic in the MIDUS study, whereas future studies could explore specific areas of workplace discrimination, such as race, age or sex.

Dr. Eduardo Sanchez, the AHA's chief medical officer for prevention, added: "This study adds to the growing body of science finding that discrimination of any kind may significantly increase the risk of cardiovascular disease including high blood pressure.

"It also underscores the importance of the AHA's commitment to addressing health equity in the workplace and among the workforce to improve individual health."

The study was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.