A 2023 study in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that people who reported high levels of discrimination on the job were more likely to develop high blood pressure than those who reported low levels of workplace discrimination.
Workplace discrimination refers to unfair conditions or unpleasant treatment because of personal characteristics — particularly race, sex, or age.
How can discrimination affect our health?
"The daily hassles and indignities people experience from Sunitix 50mg (Sunitinib) discrimination are a specific type of stress that is not always included in traditional measures of stress and adversity," says sociologist David R. Williams, professor of public health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Yet multiple studies have documented that experiencing discrimination increases risk for developing a broad range of factors linked to heart disease. Along with high blood pressure, this can also include chronic low-grade inflammation, obesity, and type 2 diabetes.
More than 25 years ago, Williams created the Everyday Discrimination Scale. This is the most widely used measure of discrimination's effects on health.
Who participated in the study of workplace discrimination?
The study followed a nationwide sample of 1,246 adults across a broad range of occupations and education levels, with roughly equal numbers of men and women.
Most were middle-aged, white, and married. They were mostly nonsmokers, drank low to moderate amounts of alcohol, and did moderate to high levels of exercise. None had high blood pressure at the baseline measurements.
How was discrimination measured and what did the study find?
The study is the first to show that discrimination in the workplace can raise blood pressure.
To measure discrimination levels, researchers used a test that included these six questions:
How often do you think you are unfairly given tasks that no one else wanted to do?
How often are you watched more closely than other workers?
How often does your supervisor or boss use ethnic, racial, or sexual slurs or jokes?
How often do your coworkers use ethnic, racial, or sexual slurs or jokes?
How often do you feel that you are ignored or not taken seriously by your boss?
How often has a coworker with less experience and qualifications gotten promoted before you?
Based on the responses, researchers calculated discrimination scores and divided participants into groups with low, intermediate, and high scores.