Feelings of Discrimination May Hurt the Heart
(HealthDayNews, 4/30/05)

Tene Lewis of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, and associates, analyzed the responses of 181 middle-aged black women from the Chicago and Pittsburgh areas to a questionnaire used to assess the “subtle discrimination” that these women may have experienced in situations where they received poorer service, were ignored or were similarly disrespected. The resultant data showed that the more discrimination a woman felt, the greater her risk of developing coronary atherosclerosis as evidenced by coronary artery calcification. These results suggest that the stress generated by discrimination may promote cardiovascular disease.