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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: AJPH.2005.074740v1 97/4/718    most recent Submit a response View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (3) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Cozier, Y. C. Articles by Rosenberg, L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Cozier, Y. C. Articles by Rosenberg, L. Related Collections Quality of Care African Americans/Blacks Socioeconomic Factors Women's Health Cardiovascular Disease

Yvette C. Cozier, DSc, Julie R. Palmer, ScD, Nicholas J. Horton, ScD, Lisa Fredman, PhD, Lauren A. Wise, ScD and Lynn Rosenberg, ScD

Yvette C. Cozier, Julie R. Palmer, Lauren A. Wise, and Lynn Rosenberg are with the Slone Epidemiology Center, Boston University, Boston, Mass. Nicholas J. Horton is with the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Clark Science Center, Smith College, Northampton, Mass. Lisa Fredman is with the Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Boston University, Boston, Mass.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Yvette C. Cozier, DSc, Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University, 1010 Commonwealth Ave, 4th Floor, Boston, MA 02215 (e-mail: ycozier{at}slone.bu.edu).

Objectives. We examined the relation between median housing value and hypertension risk among US Black women.

Methods. We gathered data from the Black Women’s Health Study, a prospective follow-up of 59000 Black women aged 21 to 69 years in 1995. Median housing value from US census data was used to measure neighborhood socioeconomic status. Cases of hypertension were identified through postal questionnaires mailed in 1997, 1999, and 2001. Clustered survival regression models were used to estimate incidence rate ratios.

Results. During 180294 person-years of observation, 3780 cases of hypertension were reported. A significant inverse, graded association was found between median housing value and hypertension. The incidence rate ratio for women living in low median housing value neighborhoods relative to high was 1.29 (95% confidence interval=1.14, 1.45) after adjustment for individual risk factors. The association was evident even at higher individual levels of income and education.

Conclusions. Median housing value is inversely associated with hypertension in Black women, independent of individual risk factors. Lowering hypertension risk in Black women will require a greater understanding of the underlying social inequalities that adversely affect health.

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