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American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 136, No. 11: 1295-1302
Copyright © 1992 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health

research-article

Skin Color and Mortality

J. E. Keil1,, S. E. Sutherland1, R. G. Knapp1, H. A. Tyroler2 and W. S. Pollitzer3

1Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Systems Science, Medical University of South Carolina Charleston, SC
2Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC
3Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC

Reprint requests to Dr. Julian E. Keil, Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Systems Science, Medical University of South Carolina, 171 Ashley Avenue, Charleston, SC 29425

The relation of skin color and mortality from all causes, coronary heart disease, and all cardiovascular diseases was explored in 787 black men and women of the Charleston Heart Study Cohort. Associations were studied by examining rates of mortality during the period 1960–1990 by tertiles of skin color, as measured by reflectometer. Across the tertiles of reflectance there were no significant differences in mortality rates, except for sex differences. Proportional hazard regression analyses were used to investigate the relation between skin color, as a continuous variable, and time to death. Covariates for regression analyses were age, sex, skin color, the interaction of skin color and sex, education, blood pressure, serum total cholesterol, cigarette smoking, body mass index, and history of diabetes. Across the random sample of black men and women there was no significant relation between skin color and time to death, except for lighter skin color and all-cause mortality (p = 0.03). Our study results provided no evidence of a longterm effect of darker skin color, as measured by skin reflectance of light, on mortality from all types of cardiovascular disease, coronary disease, or all causes. Am J Epidemiol 1992; 136: 1295–1302.

blacks; cardiovascular diseases; coronary disease; mortality; photometry; skin pigmentation


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