Hypertension disparity between whites, blacks linked to social factors

Social factors, such as stress and personality traits, may play a greater role in explaining the higher rates of hypertension among blacks, researchers at Johns Hopkins found.

“Most people think it’s biological, but we believe it’s behavioral or environmental,” said Roland James Thorpe Jr., an assistant scientist with the Hopkins Center for Health Disparities at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. Thorpe is the lead author of a study being published in the November edition of Social Science and Medicine.