Key result
Low socioeconomic position in both childhood and adulthood was associated with 7 times greater odds of hypertension compared with high socioeconomic position in both periods.
Why the study?
Does low socioeconomic position across the life-course increase the odds of hypertension in African American men?
Cohort (n=379)
No
Does low socioeconomic position across the life-course increase the odds of hypertension in African American men?
Odds Ratio: 7
Low socioeconomic position in childhood and adulthood is associated with significantly increased odds of hypertension in African American men, highlighting the cumulative burden of socioeconomic disadvantage.
Low SEP across the life course markedly raises hypertension odds in Black men; hypothesis-generating and should not yet alter clinical risk assessment.
OBJECTIVES: We investigated the odds of hypertension for Black men in relationship to their socioeconomic position (SEP) in both childhood and adulthood. METHODS: On the basis of their parents' occupation, we classified 379 men in the Pitt County (North Carolina) Study into low and high childhood SEP. The men's own education, occupation, employment status, and home ownership status were used to classify them into low and high adulthood SEP. Four life-course SEP categories resulted: low childhood/low adulthood, low childhood/high adulthood, high childhood/low adulthood, and high childhood/high adulthood. RESULTS: Low childhood SEP was associated with a 60% greater odds of hypertension, and low adulthood SEP was associated with a 2-fold greater odds of hypertension. Compared with men of high SEP in both childhood and adulthood, the odds of hypertension were 7 times greater for low/low SEP men, 4 times greater for low/high SEP men, and 6 times greater for high/low SEP men. CONCLUSIONS: Greater access to material resources in both childhood and adulthood was protective against premature hypertension in this cohort of Black men. Though some parameter estimates were imprecise, study findings are consistent with both pathway and cumulative burden models of hypertension.
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James et al. (2006) conducted a cohort in Hypertension (n=379). Low socioeconomic position (SEP) in childhood and adulthood vs. High socioeconomic position (SEP) in childhood and adulthood was evaluated on Hypertension (OR 7). Low socioeconomic position in both childhood and adulthood was associated with 7 times greater odds of hypertension compared with high socioeconomic position in both periods.
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