Sexually transmitted infections and risk of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) result in maternal morbidity and mortality but are rarely examined in perinatal studies of sexually transmitted infections. We examined associations between common sexually transmitted infections and HDP among 38,026 singleton pregnancies. Log-binomial regression calculated relative risk (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for associations with gestational hypertension, preeclampsia with severe features, mild preeclampsia, and superimposed preeclampsia.

Black-White Risk Differentials in COVID-19 (SARS-COV2) Transmission, Mortality and Case Fatality in the United States: Translational Epidemiologic Perspective and Challenges.

Background: Social and health inequities predispose vulnerable populations to adverse morbidity and mortality outcomes of epidemics and pandemics. While racial disparities in cumulative incidence (CmI) and mortality from the influenza pandemics of 1918 and 2009 implicated Blacks with survival disadvantage relative to Whites in the United States, COVID-19 currently indicates comparable disparities. We aimed to: (a) assess COVID-19 CmI by race, (b) determine the Black-White case fatality (CF) and risk differentials, and (c) apply explanatory model for mortality risk differentials.

Implication of Vaginal and Cesarean Section Delivery Method in Black-White Differentials in Infant Mortality in the United States: Linked Birth/Infant Death Records, 2007-2016.

Racial/ethnic disparities in infant mortality (IM) continue to persist in the United States, with Black/African Americans (AA) being disproportionally affected with a three-fold increase in mortality compared to Whites. Epidemiological data have identified maternal characteristics in IM risk such as preeclampsia, eclampsia, maternal education, smoking, maternal weight, maternal socioeconomic status (SES), and family structure. Understanding the social gradient in health including implicit bias, as inherent in the method of labor and delivery and the racial heterogeneity, may facilitate intervention mapping in narrowing the Black-White IM risk differences.

DNA Methylation of Candidate Genes (ACE II, IFN-γ, AGTR 1, CKG, ADD1, SCNN1B and TLR2) in Essential Hypertension: A Systematic Review and Quantitative Evidence Synthesis.

Physical, chemical, and social environments adversely affect the molecular process and results in cell signal transduction and the subsequent transcription factor dysregulation, leading to impaired gene expression and abnormal protein synthesis. Stressful environments such as social adversity, isolation, sustained social threats, physical inactivity, and highly methylated diets predispose individuals to molecular level alterations such as aberrant epigenomic modulations that affect homeostasis and hemodynamics. With cardiovascular disease as the leading cause of mortality in the US and blacks/African Americans being disproportionately affected by hypertension (HTN) which contributes substantially to these deaths, reflecting the excess mortality and survival disadvantage of this sub-population relative to whites, understanding the molecular events, including epigenomic and socio-epigenomic modulations, is relevant to narrowing the black-white mortality risk differences.