Race/Ethnicity, Cumulative Midlife Loss and Carotid Atherosclerosis in Middle-Aged Women

African-American women have elevated rates of cardiovascular disease compared to women of other race/ethnicities, and race/ethnicity-related stressors may play a role. We examined the association between an understudied race/ethnicity-related stressor, midlife loss (e.g. deaths of friends/family members) and a marker of cardiovascular risk, carotid intima media thickness (IMT) in 1,410 African-American, White, Chinese and Hispanic women from the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation. Participants were queried about losses annually over 12 years (1996-2013), with IMT assessed Year 12-13 via ultrasound. Linear regression models examined associations between cumulative upsetting losses and IMT, adjusting for covariates. In minimally-adjusted models in the full cohort, >=3 upsetting losses (versus none) were associated with IMT (? = .03, 95% confidence interval (CI):.01, .05, p=.0003). Results were more robust among African-American (?=.042, 95% CI:.01, .07, p