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Job Strain, Workplace Discrimination, and Hypertension Among Older Workers: The Health and Retirement Study

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Abstract

Job strain has been associated with hypertension among younger workers; however, whether this relationship persists among older workers, particularly older racial/ethnic minorities, is unresolved. This study evaluated whether job strain and workplace discrimination are associated with hypertension and poor blood pressure control among older workers and whether these relationships vary by gender and race/ethnicity. Data were drawn from the Health and Retirement Study, and analysis was restricted to employed participants with complete information on job strain and blood pressure (N = 3,794). In adjusted models, high job strain was associated with lower likelihood of hypertension (odds ratio (OR): 0.75, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.63, 0.89) relative to low job strain. Stratified analyses indicated this association was only significant among white (OR: 0.71, 95% CI: 0.58, 0.86) and male (OR: 0.61, 95% CI: 0.47, 0.79) workers. High job strain was not significantly associated with hypertension among African American (OR: 1.14, 95% CI: 0.63, 2.07) or Hispanic (OR: 0.56, 95% CI: 0.29, 1.09) workers. Workplace discrimination was not associated with hypertension among any group. Neither job strain nor discrimination was associated with poor blood pressure control. These findings suggest that persistence in work characterized by high job strain in later life may signal resilience to the influence of work-related stressors on health. Future research efforts should examine the factors that contribute to gender and racial differences in these relationships.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a pilot study funded by the University of Michigan Center for Integrative Approaches to Health Disparities (P60 MD002249), the University of Michigan Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholars Program, and the Virginia Commonwealth University Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health Program (K12-HD055881). The Health and Retirement Study is sponsored by the National Institute of Aging (NIA U01AG009740) and is conducted by the University of Michigan. The sponsors had no role in the design, interpretation, or publication of this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA, USA

    Briana Mezuk & Scott Ratliff

  2. Department of Preventive Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA

    Kiarri N. Kershaw

  3. Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Darrell Hudson

  4. Epidemiology, International Vaccine Institute, Seoul, Korea

    Kyuang Ah Lim

  5. Department of Epidemiology and Community Health, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, P. O. Box 980212, Richmond, VA, 23298, USA

    Briana Mezuk

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  1. Briana Mezuk
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Correspondence to Briana Mezuk.

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Mezuk, B., Kershaw, K.N., Hudson, D. et al. Job Strain, Workplace Discrimination, and Hypertension Among Older Workers: The Health and Retirement Study. Race Soc Probl 3, 38–50 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-011-9041-7

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