Everyday Discrimination and Metabolic Syndrome Incidence in a Racially/Ethnically Diverse Sample: Study of Women's Health Across the Nation

ABSTRACTObjectiveEveryday discrimination may contribute to incident metabolic syndrome (MetS) in the United States and related racial/ethnic differences in MetS. The study investigated whether everyday discrimination predicted MetS in a diverse sample.MethodsA longitudinal, cohort study of 2132 women (mean [standard deviation] = 45.8 [2.7] years) who self-reported as black (n = 523), white (n = 1065), Chinese (n = 194), Japanese (n = 227), or Hispanic (n = 123) at baseline drawn from seven cities across the United States was conducted. MetS was defined in accordance with the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III criteria. The Everyday Discrimination scale was used to assess exposure to and level of everyday discrimination.ResultsEveryday discrimination exposure at baseline predicted a 33% greater incidence of MetS during the 13.89-year (standard deviation = 3.83, hazard ratio (HR) = 1.33, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.11–1.64, p = .001) follow-up in the full sample and was most pronounced in black, Hispanic, and Japanese women. Each 1-point increase in the continuous everyday discrimination score (HR = 1.03, 95% CI =1.01–1.05, p = .001) predicted a 3% greater incidence of MetS and, specifically, blood pressure (HR = 1.01, 95% CI = 1.00–1.03, p = .04), waist circumference (HR = 1.05, 95% CI =1.03–1.06, p
Source: Psychosomatic Medicine - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Tags: Original Articles Source Type: research