Key result
African and Caribbean Americans exhibit distinct cardiovascular reactivity to stress tasks versus White Americans.
Why the study?
Cardiovascular reactivity to psychological stress may be an important marker or mediator of cardiovascular disease risk in Black Americans, yet ethnicity differences among Blacks have been understudied.
Does cardiovascular reactivity to psychological stress differ among African Americans, Caribbean Americans, and White Americans?
Observational (n=88)
Does cardiovascular reactivity to psychological stress differ among African Americans, Caribbean Americans, and White Americans?
Cardiovascular reactivity to psychological stress differs significantly among Black ethnic groups (African Americans vs. Caribbean Americans) and White Americans, highlighting the importance of disaggregating ethnicity in cardiovascular risk research.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Ethnic reactivity differences may inform disparity mechanisms; leaves open clinical relevance and needs prospective validation.
BACKGROUND: Caribbean Americans and African Americans, two of the largest Black ethnic groups in the United States, differ in cardiovascular-disease-related mortality rates. PURPOSE: Cardiovascular reactivity to psychological stress may be an important marker or mediator of risk for cardiovascular disease development in Blacks in the United States, yet little attention has been paid to ethnicity among Blacks in reactivity research. This study examined cardiovascular reactivity to psychological stress in African American, Caribbean American, and White American participants. METHODS: Forty-five women and 43 men performed mental arithmetic and hand cold pressor (CP) tasks. RESULTS: Caribbean Americans displayed larger decreases in heart period variability during mental arithmetic than White Americans (p =.02). White Americans exhibited a pre-ejection period decrease, whereas African Americans and Caribbean Americans displayed pre-ejection period increases during CP (p =.023). African Americans exhibited greater decreases in interbeat interval during CP than White Americans (p =.013). Caribbean Americans displayed greater decreases in cardiac output than White Americans during CP (p =.009). White Americans exhibited significantly greater increases in systolic blood pressure than Caribbean Americans during CP (p =.014). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that differences in reactivity to psychological stress exist among Black ethnic groups in the United States and underscore the need to consider ethnicity as a factor in reactivity research with Black Americans.
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Arthur et al. (2004) conducted an observational in Cardiovascular reactivity to psychological stress (n=88). African American and Caribbean American ethnicity vs. White American ethnicity was evaluated on Cardiovascular reactivity (heart period variability, pre-ejection period, interbeat interval, cardiac output, systolic blood pressure). African American and Caribbean American participants exhibited significantly different cardiovascular reactivity to mental arithmetic and cold pressor tasks compared to White Americans (e.g., p=0.009).
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