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Original research
Does stress from incarceration of family and friends contribute to signs of early vascular ageing in African American women?
  1. Nicole D Fields1,
  2. Zachary T Martin1,
  3. Lori S Hoggard2,
  4. Christy L Erving3,
  5. Shivika Udaipuria1,
  6. Kennedy M Blevins4,
  7. Jordan E Parker5,
  8. Jaylah Goodson1,
  9. Raphiel J Murden6,
  10. Renee H Moore7,
  11. Rachel Parker6,
  12. LaKeia Culler1,
  13. Bianca Booker1,
  14. Emma Barinas-Mitchell8,
  15. Arshed Quyyumi9,
  16. Viola Vaccarino1,
  17. Tené T Lewis1
  1. 1 Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
  2. 2 Department of Psychology, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
  3. 3 Department of Sociology, College of Liberal Arts, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA
  4. 4 Department of Psychological Science, School of Social Ecology, UC Irvine, Irvine, California, USA
  5. 5 Department of Psychology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
  6. 6 Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
  7. 7 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
  8. 8 Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
  9. 9 Division of Cardiology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Tené T Lewis; tene.t.lewis{at}emory.edu

Abstract

Background Early vascular ageing (EVA) contributes to elevated risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), which disproportionately affects African American women. Incarceration, an event disproportionately impacting African Americans, may be a stressor contributing to EVA in African American women. Further, the subjective perspective, commonly referred to as appraisal, of incarceration may also be important for health. We hypothesised that having family and/or friends incarcerated and appraising the incarceration as upsetting would be associated with indices of EVA.

Methods In a community-based cohort of African American women aged 30–46 living in Atlanta, Georgia (n=391), participants were asked, at baseline, about family and/or friend incarceration and to appraise how upsetting the incarceration was. Multivariable linear regression examined associations between: (1) family and/or friend incarceration and indices of EVA (pulse wave velocity, augmentation index, central systolic blood pressure (SBP) and pulse pressure amplification) and (2) appraisal of incarceration and EVA indices.

Results 45% of participants (n=174) reported having a loved one incarcerated, and 59% (n=102) reported the incarceration as upsetting. Having a loved one incarcerated was associated with a higher central SBP (b=4.30; 95% CI 1.61, 6.99) and augmentation index (b=2.29; 95% CI 0.26, 4.33). Appraisal of incarceration was only associated with central SBP.

Conclusions Family or friend incarceration was highly prevalent in this cohort of African American women and associated with indices of EVA. Mass incarceration of others may affect the physical health of African American women which may contribute to CVD disparities.

  • EPIDEMIOLOGY
  • Health inequalities
  • PHYSIOLOGY
  • CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES
  • SOCIAL SCIENCES

Data availability statement

Data are available upon reasonable request. The raw data are available upon requests made to the corresponding author.

https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2024-222227

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    Data availability statement

    Data are available upon reasonable request. The raw data are available upon requests made to the corresponding author.

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    Footnotes

    • X @drnicolefields, @zacmartinphd

    • Contributors NDF conceptualised the study with TTL, analysed the data, interpreted the findings with ZTM and drafted the original manuscript. SU and RP curated the data and validated the study findings. LC and BB served as project administrators. All authors critically reviewed and edited the manuscript. TTL provided funding and supervision for the study and is the guarantor for this work.

    • Funding The Mechanisms Underlying the Impact of Stress and Emotions (MUSE) on African American Women’s Health Study was funded by grant R01HL130471 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). TTL is supported by grants R01HL158141 and K24HL163696 from NHLBI. NDF is supported by grant T32HL130025 from NHLBI. CLE is partially supported by grant P2CHD042849 awarded to the Population Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.