The Association of Neighborhood Gene-Environment Susceptibility with Cortisol and Blood Pressure in African-American Adu
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
The Association of Neighborhood Gene-Environment Susceptibility with Cortisol and Blood Pressure in African-American Adults Sandra M. Coulon, Ph.D. 1 & Dawn K. Wilson, Ph.D. 1 & M. L. Van Horn, Ph.D. 2 & Gregory A. Hand, Ph.D., M.P.H. 3 & Stephen Kresovich, Ph.D. 4
Published online: 18 December 2015 # The Society of Behavioral Medicine 2015
Abstract Background African-American adults are disproportionately affected by stress-related chronic conditions like high blood pressure (BP), and both environmental stress and genetic risk may play a role in its development. Purpose This study tested whether the dual risk of low neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) and glucocorticoid genetic sensitivity interacted to predict waking cortisol and BP. Methods Cross-sectional waking cortisol and BP were collected from 208 African-American adults who were participating in a follow-up visit as part of the Positive Action for Today’s Health trial. Three single-nucleotide polymorphisms were genotyped, salivary cortisol samples were collected, and neighborhood SES was calculated using 2010 Census data. Results The sample was mostly female (65 %), with weight classified as overweight or obese (MBMI =32.74, SD=8.88) and a mean age of 55.64 (SD = 15.21). The gene-byneighborhood SES interaction predicted cortisol (B=0.235, p=.001, r2 =.036), but not BP. For adults with high genetic, sensitivity waking cortisol was lower with lower SES but higher with higher SES (B=0.87). Lower neighborhood SES was also related to higher systolic BP (B=−0.794, p=.028).
* Sandra M. Coulon, Ph.D. [email protected] 1
Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Barnwell College, Columbia, SC 29201, USA
2
Educational Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
3
School of Public Health, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA
4
Genetics and Biochemistry, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA
Conclusions Findings demonstrated an interaction whereby African-American adults with high genetic sensitivity had high levels of waking cortisol with higher neighborhood SES, and low levels with lower neighborhood SES. This moderation effect is consistent with a differential susceptibility gene-environment pattern, rather than a dual-risk pattern. These findings contribute to a growing body of evidence that demonstrates the importance of investigating complex gene-environment relations in order to better understand stress-related health disparities. Keywords Neighborhood . Socioeconomic status . Genetic . Cortisol . Blood pressure . African American
Introduction African-American adults and other socioeconomically disadvantaged groups in the USA experience greater rates of high blood pressure (BP) as part of a long-standing disparity in cardiovascular health [1–3]. Approximately 40 % of African-American adults suffer high BP in contrast to 28 % of Caucasians [4–6], and chronic exposure to environmental or neighborhood-related stressors may account in part for this disparity [7–9]. Further, g
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