(RightIsRight.co) – In a baffling investigation that might shock the Black American community, a recent study suggests that “interpersonal racism” might increase the likelihood of coronary heart disease (CHD).
Boston University epidemiologist Shanshan Sheehy conducted research with Michelle Albert and published in the American Heart Association journal and analyzed data from nearly 50,000 black women dating back to 1997.
While the study found that perceived experiences of racism in areas like employment, housing, and police interactions were linked to higher CHD rates among black women it also noted that perceived racism in everyday life did not show the same association.
However, after adjusting for various factors, the link between racism and heart problems became statistically insignificant and suggested it could be due to chance. Sheehy did not respond to requests for comment on the paper which included the assertion that racism is prevalent in America.
Research Director at Do No Harm Ian Kingsbury acknowledged the study’s extensive dataset but raised concerns about its design.
He noted that while there was not a significant association between self-reported racism in daily life and myocardial infarction, also known as heart attack there was a link with discrimination in employment, housing, and police interactions.
Kingsbury suggested that a confounding variable might be at play, which proposed that individuals reporting higher levels of everyday racism could be more prone to anxiety and conflict and could contribute to higher rates of CHD.
He also criticized the study’s overstatement of findings and lack of transparency regarding the limitations of self-reported racism measures. Likewise, he warned against using the paper in medical practice and emphasized its unconvincing results when considering other variables.
Regarding studies linking police interactions to health issues, University of Minnesota researcher and Planned Parenthood board member Rachel Hardeman found a correlation between police stops and preterm births in neighborhoods.
However, she could not identify specific cases of police interactions leading to preterm births and even noted that black immigrant women had better pregnancy outcomes than white women.
Nevertheless, Hardeman attributed racial disparities in preterm births to racialized police patterns stemming from America’s history of racism.
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