Stress related to policing poses serious cardiovascular health risks for Black women, particularly those worried about their children’s safety around law enforcement. Research from North Carolina State University reveals a disturbing connection between police-related vigilance and early signs of heart disease in Black communities.
The study tracked more than 400 Black women in Atlanta, examining how police harassment experiences and concerns about family safety correlate with cardiovascular disease risk. Women expressing high concern for their children showed elevated carotid artery thickness, an early warning sign for heart disease. Surprisingly, women reporting personal police harassment but lower worry about children displayed fewer cardiovascular risk indicators.
Dr. Lori Hoggard, assistant professor at NC State and study author, emphasized the significance of maternal vigilance over personal encounters. “In the context of this study, for these 422 women, what really seemed to matter was the vigilance for their children,” Hoggard explained. These pressures stem from historical burdens on Black women who simultaneously shoulder caregiver and provider roles.
The cardiovascular disparities persisted even after researchers controlled for income, neighborhood safety, family size, age, and blood pressure, suggesting systemic rather than individual factors drive these health outcomes. Hoggard noted that characteristics “adaptive and helpful in many aspects, can also be harmful at the same time.”
Hoggard called for policy-level interventions, including dismantling systemic racism in law enforcement and exploring community policing alternatives that would reduce police presence in predominantly Black neighborhoods. Future research will examine whether reducing police-related stress through policy changes can help eliminate these health disparities.
See: “Police-related stress tied to heart health risks for Black women, NC State study says” (January 27, 2026)Â
