Historical Loss: Implications for Health of American Indians in the Blackfeet Community.

<bold>Background: </bold>Historical loss in American Indians (AIs) is believed to contribute to high incidence of mental health disorders, yet less is known about the associations between historical loss and physical health.<bold>Purpose: </bold>To investigate whether frequency of thought about historical loss predicts risk factors for chronic physical health conditions in an AI community.<bold>Methods: </bold>Using Community Based Participatory research (CBPR) and Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA), we measured frequency of thoughts about historical loss in 100 AI adults residing on the Blackfeet reservation. Participants completed a 1-week monitoring period, during which ambulatory blood pressure and daily levels of psychological stress were measured. At the end of the week, we collected a dried blood spot sample for measurement of C-reactive protein (CRP).<bold>Results: </bold>In hierarchical linear regression models controlling for demographics and relevant covariates, greater frequency of thoughts about historical loss predicted higher average daily psychological stress (B = .55, t = 6.47, p < .001, ΔR2 = .30) and higher levels of CRP (B = .33, t = 3.93, p < .001, ΔR2 = .10). Using linear mixed modeling with relevant covariates, we found that greater thoughts about historical loss were associated with higher systolic ambulatory blood pressure (B = .32, 95% CI = .22-.42, t = 6.48, p < .001, ΔR2 = .25; Fig. 1c) and greater diastolic ambulatory blood pressure (B = .19, 95% CI = .11-.27, t = 4.73, p < .001, ΔR2 = .19).<bold>Conclusions: </bold>The data suggest that frequency of thought about historical loss may contribute to increased subclinical risk for cardiovascular disease in the Blackfeet community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]