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Interactive Influences of Ethnicity, Endothelin-1 Gene, and Everyday Discrimination Upon Nocturnal Ambulatory Blood Pressure

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Annals of Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

Background

Everyday discrimination scale scores are associated with increased ambulatory blood pressure (BP) and reduced nocturnal dipping, and the endothelin-1 (ET-1)/Lys198Asn polymorphism is associated with increased resting BP and exaggerated BP reactivity among African Americans compared to European Americans. Combined influences of these factors on BP control are unknown.

Purpose

This study tested the hypothesis of a three-way interaction between ethnicity, ET-1 carrier status, and everyday discrimination upon ambulatory BP and nocturnal dipping.

Methods

Baseline laboratory anthropometrics and the everyday discrimination scale were completed by 352 (175 African American) young adult normotensives, followed by 24-h ambulatory BP monitoring.

Results

For nocturnal dipping, multiple regression models controlling for age, sex, ethnicity, and body mass index revealed significant three-way ET-1 × everyday discrimination × ethnicity interactions. Specifically, among African American ET-1 T-allele carriers, increases in everyday discrimination led to reduced nocturnal dipping.

Conclusions

African Americans that carry the ET-1/Lys198Asn T-allele and report higher everyday discrimination scores may be at particular risk for reduced nocturnal dipping.

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Acknowledgments

This publication was supported by grants from NIH/NHLBI (HL05662, HL069999) and the South Carolina Clinical and Translational Research Institute, with an academic home at the Medical University of South Carolina, NIH/NCRR, Grant #UL1RR029882. The contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH or NCRR. We acknowledge the following research assistants who assisted with data collection and other aspects of the study: Shawntel Parker and Greg Slavens assisted with data management and system analysis and Brenda Jackson, Sandra Young-Mayes, Tracy Miller, Pam Shields, and Bridgett Wells assisted with data collection.

Conflict of Interest

The authors have no conflict of interest to disclose.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Nursing, Medical University of South Carolina, 99 Jonathan Lucas Street, MSC 160, Charleston, SC, 29425, USA

    Mathew J. Gregoski Ph.D., Mary Davis B.S., Kelsey Gonto B.S. & Frank A. Treiber Ph.D.

  2. College of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA

    Frank A. Treiber Ph.D.

  3. Jackson Heart Study, Jackson State University, Jackson, MS, USA

    Sarah G. Buxbaum Ph.D.

  4. Georgia Prevention Center, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA, USA

    Gaston Kapuku M.D., Ph.D., Yanbin Dong M.D., Ph.D. & Haidong Zhu M.D., Ph.D.

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  1. Mathew J. Gregoski Ph.D.
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  2. Sarah G. Buxbaum Ph.D.
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  8. Frank A. Treiber Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Mathew J. Gregoski Ph.D..

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Gregoski, M.J., Buxbaum, S.G., Kapuku, G. et al. Interactive Influences of Ethnicity, Endothelin-1 Gene, and Everyday Discrimination Upon Nocturnal Ambulatory Blood Pressure. ann. behav. med. 45, 377–386 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-013-9472-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-013-9472-z

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