Perceived racism ‘can affect stiffening of the arteries in young people’

A new study has indicated that perceived racism can be one of the factors affecting the stiffening of the arteries in young people.

Conducted by King's College London with the University of Glasgow, the research looked at how factors measured twice previously in childhood, particularly body size and blood pressure, affected the emergence of aortic stiffness in young adults.

The original cohort consisted of 6,643 London children from 51 schools, covering six ethnic groups. They were tested at ages 11 to 13, with 4,785 seen again at ages 14 to 16 and 666 taking part in a pilot follow-up aged 21 to 23 years.

It was found that increased arterial stiffness was associated with a number of physiological factors, including blood pressure, greater waist/height ratio and a lack of physical activity.

However, reported racism was also shown to affect aortic stiffness, with around half of the young adult cohort reporting racism. A greater proportion in the ethnic minority groups experienced such incidents compared to their white peers.

Lead investigator Professor Seeromanie Harding, from the division of diabetes and nutritional sciences at King's College London, said: "The findings help us understand factors, such as being overweight, that may adversely affect the cardiovascular health of young people from different ethnic minority populations."