Race and Resting-State Heart Rate Variability in Brazilian Civil Servants and the Mediating Effects of Discrimination

An Elsa-Brasil Cohort Study

Datos Bibliográficos

ID19306753
AutoresAndrew H Kemp (0000-0003-1146-3791, Universidade de São Paulo, autor de correspondencia), Julian Koenig (0000-0003-1009-9625, Faculdade Novos Horizontes), Julian F Thayer (0000-0001-9385-3421, Faculdade Novos Horizontes), Marcio Sommer Bittencourt (0000-0002-3711-1754, Faculdade Novos Horizontes), Alexandre C Pereira (0000-0002-7782-5540, Faculdade Novos Horizontes), Ivonete Da Silva Santos (0000-0003-3212-8466, Faculdade Novos Horizontes), Itamar S Santos, Eduardo Miranda Dantas (0000-0002-6589-5592, Faculdade Novos Horizontes), José Geraldo Mill (0000-0002-0987-368X, Faculdade Novos Horizontes), Dóra Chor (0000-0002-3941-5786, Faculdade Novos Horizontes), Antonio Luiz Pinho Ribeiro (0000-0002-2740-0042, Faculdade Novos Horizontes), Isabela Judith Martins Bensenor (0000-0002-6723-5678, Faculdade Novos Horizontes), Isabela M Benseñor (0000-0001-6889-7334), Paulo A Lotufo (0000-0002-4856-8450, Faculdade Novos Horizontes)
Año2016
Volumen78
Número8
Páginas950-958
Fecha de publicación2016-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaPsychosomatic Medicine (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0033-3174 • E-ISSN: 1534-7796
EditorialOvid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1097/psy.0000000000000359
PMID27359180
OpenAlexW2463048364
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas6
Referencias citadas57

OBJECTIVES: African Americans are characterized by higher heart rate variability (HRV), a finding ostensibly associated with beneficial health outcomes. However, these findings are at odds with other evidence that blacks have worse cardiovascular outcomes. Here, we examine associations in a large cohort from the ELSA-Brasil study and determined whether these effects are mediated by discrimination. METHODS: Three groups were compared on the basis of self-declared race: "black" (n = 2,020), "brown" (n = 3,502), and "white" (n = 6,467). Perceived discrimination was measured using a modified version of the Everyday Discrimination Scale. Resting-state HRV was extracted from 10-minute resting-state electrocardiograms. Racial differences in HRV were determined by regression analyses weighted by propensity scores, which controlled for potentially confounding variables including age, sex, education, and other health-related information. Nonlinear mediation analysis quantified the average total effect, comprising direct (race-HRV) and indirect (race-discrimination-HRV) pathways. RESULTS: Black participants displayed higher HRV relative to brown (Cohen's d = 0.20) and white participants (Cohen's d = 0.31). Brown relative to white participants also displayed a small but significantly higher HRV (Cohen's d = 0.14). Discrimination indirectly contributed to the effects of race on HRV. CONCLUSIONS: This large cohort from the Brazilian population shows that HRV is greatest in black, followed by brown, relative to white participants. The presence of higher HRV in these groups may reflect a sustained compensatory psychophysiological response to the adverse effects of discrimination. Additional research is needed to determine the health consequences of these differences in HRV across racial and ethnic groups

Biology · Blood pressure · Cohort · Cohort study · Confounding · Heart rate · Heart rate variability · Mediation · Political science · Population · Race (biology) · Sociology · Cardiovascular Health and Risk Factors · Demography · Heart rate and cardiovascular health · Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control · Internal Medicine · Medicine · Psychology · Gerontology