JOB STRAIN AND BLOOD-PRESSURE IN AFRICAN-AMERICANS - THE PITT COUNTY STUDY

Objectives. This report examined whether job strain (or its components , decision latitude and job de mands) was associated with elevated blo od pressure levels in a community-based sample of 726 African-American adults. Methods. Blood-pressure, anthropometric, behavioral, demograp hic, and psychosocial data were collected for the current cross-sectio nal analyses during home interviews conducted for the second wave (199 3) of the Pitt County Study (North Carolina), a prospective cohort stu dy of hypertension among African Americans. Results. Job strain was no t associated with blood pressure among men or women in this study. How ever, men in the 80th percentile of decision latitude had more than a 50% decrease in the prevalence of hypertension compared with men in th e 20th percentile (odds ratio = .46, 95% confidence interval = .22, .9 6). Conclusions. These results indicate that decision latitude may be important for hypertension risk among African-American men. More resea rch is needed on African Americans to determine why job strain and its two component variables differ in their associations with blood press ure far men and women.