Abstract Body (Do not enter title and authors here): Introduction: Among non-Hispanics, hypertension (HTN) disparities by self-reported race exist. Hispanics/Latinos (H/L) are an admixed population of African (AA), European (EA) and Amerindian (AI) continental genetic ancestry (GA). Few studies have explored self-reported race and HTN among H/L. We assessed, among H/L, the associations of self-reported race with GA, and self-reported race and GA with HTN.
Methods: Data was obtained from the HCHS/SOL, a population-based cohort of United States (US) H/L. We included mutually unrelated subjects ≥18 years old with genotyping data. Proportions and quintiles of GA were computed with the ADMIXTURE software. HTN was defined as systolic blood pressure (SBP) >130mmHg, diastolic BP (DBP) >80mmHg or on antihypertensive medication. Self-reported race categories were based on the Federal Directive 15. Sampling weights were utilized.
Results: We report 9,592 subjects, 49.6% female, mean age 42.9 ±0.28 years. Over half of all H/L self-reported race as Unknown, Declined or Some Other Race (UNK), which did not vary per background group except for H/L of Cuban descent. Among those who self-reported race as Black, White and Native American (NA), the majority were of Dominican, Cuban and Mexican descent, respectively. H/L who self-reported race as Black and White had the greatest proportion of AA and EA ancestry, respectively. H/L who self-reported race as NA or UNK had a predominant mix of EA and AI ancestry. The highest HTN prevalence was seen in H/L who self-reported Black race, as well the ones in the highest EA and AA quintile. H/L in the highest AI quintile had the lowest HTN prevalence along with lower mean SBP and DBP, compared to those in the lower AI quintiles.
Conclusions: The majority of H/L did not identify their race suggesting that the concept of race does not resonate since the social context of race in Latin America may not be equivalent to the US. H/L self-reporting race as Black and White, had predominantly AA and EA ancestry, respectively. H/L self-reporting race as Black or in the highest AA quantile had the highest HTN prevalence, similar to what has been reported in non-Hispanic Blacks, whereas H/L in the highest AI quantile had a more favorable HTN profile.