December 15, 2024
New research highlights link between hypertension and caregiving stress in young black women.
New research has found a link between caregiving stress and young black women hypertension develops.
A recent analysis published in the Journal of the American Heart Association Hypertension shows that caregiving stress is associated with a higher risk of developing hypertension in black women aged 21 to 44. The study, which followed participants for an average of 7.4 years, found that 43.5% of all participants developed is hypertension.
The research team, led by experts at the NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine, also found that 51.7% of participants reporting moderate or high caregiving stress developed hypertension, compared to 40.6% of those who did not. who have low or no caregiving stress Previous studies have linked caregiving to high blood pressure in middle-aged and older black women, but this relationship has been less studied in younger demographics.
“Our analysis suggests that caregiver strain, as a source of chronic stress, may significantly contribute to the development of hypertension, a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease in black women of reproductive age,” study corresponding author Mila Arabajian, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Department of Fundamentals of Medicine, NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine said in the press release.
The study’s findings are particularly relevant following recent advice from US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, who highlighted that parents and caregivers have experienced significantly higher levels of stress and mental health difficulties compared to non-caregivers in the past decade caregiving is a source of chronic stress that particularly affects women, who constitute the majority of informal caregivers.
Black women have been shown to have a higher prevalence of hypertension compared with women of other races and ethnicities. Young black women with hypertension have high rates of uncontrolled blood pressure. Identifying “addressable” risk factors, such as caregiving stress, is important for developing targeted prevention strategies for this group, the study authors said. :
“Given the increased lifetime risk of CVD, especially among black women of reproductive age, we need to better identify the underlying causes that contribute to stress,” said senior study author Tanya M. Spruill, Ph.D. Medicine at NYU Langone Health.
“If the lack of affordable childcare is a source, connecting with childcare resources may be one solution. If the source of stress is communication with a child or an elderly relative, education can be tailored to help with that,” Dr. Spruill added. , who directs the Jackson Heart Study Working Group, whose funding supported the current article.
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