Richardson, Michael P.Waring, Molly E.Wang, Monica L.Nobel, LisaCuffee, Yendelela L.Person, Sharina D.Hullett, SandralKiefe, Catarina I.Allison, Jeroan J.2022-08-232022-08-232014-05-092014-05-12Richardson MP, Waring ME, Wang ML, Nobel L, Cuffee Y, Person SD, Hullett S, Kiefe CI, Allison JJ. Weight-based discrimination and medication adherence among low-income African Americans with hypertension: how much of the association is mediated by self-efficacy? Ethn Dis. 2014 Spring;24(2):162-8. <a href="http://www.ishib.org/wp-content/themes/default/journal/24-2/ethn-24-02-162abs.pdf" target="_blank">Link to abstract on publisher's website</a>1049-510X24804361https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/46670<p>First author Michael P. Richardson is a medical student in the School of Medicine at UMass Medical School. Co-author Yendelela L. Cuffee is a doctoral student in the Clinical and Population Health Research Program in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) at UMass Medical School.</p>OBJECTIVES: Much of the excessive morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease among African Americans results from low adherence to anti-hypertensive medications. Therefore, we examined the association between weight-based discrimination and medication adherence. METHODS: We used cross-sectional data from low-income African Americans with hypertension. Ordinal logistic regression estimated the odds of medication non-adherence in relation to weight-based discrimination adjusted for age, sex, education, income, and weight. RESULTS: Of all participants (n = 780), the mean (SD) age was 53.7 (9.9) years and the mean (SD) weight was 210.1 (52.8) lbs. Reports of weight-based discrimination were frequent (28.2%). Weight-based discrimination (but not weight itself) was associated with medication non-adherence (OR: 1.94; 95% CI: 1.41-2.67). A substantial portion 38.9% (95% CI: 19.0%-79.0%) of the association between weight-based discrimination and medication non-adherence was mediated by medication self-efficacy. CONCLUSION: Self-efficacy is a potential explanatory factor for the association between reported weight-based discrimination and medication non-adherence. Future research should develop and test interventions to prevent weight-based discrimination at the societal, provider, and institutional levels.en-USUMCCTS fundingBehavior and Behavior MechanismsCardiovascular DiseasesClinical EpidemiologyCommunity Health and Preventive MedicineEpidemiologyHealth Services AdministrationHealth Services ResearchPreventive MedicineJournal Articlehttps://escholarship.umassmed.edu/qhs_pp/11295570825qhs_pp/1129