Impact of change over time in self-reported discrimination on blood pressure: implications for inequities in cardiovascular risk for a multi-racial urban community.

The 21st century has seen a rise in racism and xenophobia in the United States. Few studies have examined the health implications of heightened institutional and interpersonal racism. This study examines changes in reported discrimination and associations with blood pressure over time among non-Latino Blacks (NLBs), Latinos, and non-Latino Whites (NLWs) in an urban area, and variations by nativity among Latinos.

Social Determinants and Disparities in Health: Their Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ultimate Triumph(?) in Health Policy.

David Mechanic has been a principal founder of modern sociological and social science approaches to health, especially in relation to health policy. These approaches have since the 1950s and 1960s resurrected ideas that had currency in the mid-nineteenth century but seemed crucified, dead, and buried by the rise of modern biomedicine from the mid-nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century. Problems and lacunae in purely biomedical approaches to health in the later twentieth century, along with developments of new biopsychosocial approaches to health, have spawned a return toward ideas of Rudolf Virchow and mid-nineteenth-century social medicine that social determinants and disparities are major drivers of population health.

Dynamics of health behaviours and socioeconomic differences in mortality in the USA.

Background: To measure the explanatory role of behavioural factors to educational and income disparities in mortality among US adults (ages 25+).

Methods: Data were from four waves of the American Changing Lives Study (N=3617). There were 1832 deaths between 1986 and 2011.

Individual joblessness, contextual unemployment, and mortality risk.

Longitudinal studies at the level of individuals find that employees who lose their jobs are at increased risk of death. However, analyses of aggregate data find that as unemployment rates increase during recessions, population mortality actually declines. We addressed this paradox by using data from the US Department of Labor and annual survey data (1979-1997) from a nationally representative longitudinal study of individuals-the Panel Study of Income Dynamics.

Racial/ethnic disparities in hypertension prevalence: reconsidering the role of chronic stress.

Objectives: We investigated the association between anticipatory stress, also known as racism-related vigilance, and hypertension prevalence in Black, Hispanic, and White adults.

Methods: We used data from the Chicago Community Adult Health Study, a population-representative sample of adults (n = 3105) surveyed in 2001 to 2003, to regress hypertension prevalence on the interaction between race/ethnicity and vigilance in logit models.

Results: Blacks reported the highest vigilance levels.

Working conditions and depressive symptoms: a prospective study of US adults.

Objective: Prior longitudinal studies of negative working conditions and depression generally have used a single exposure indicator, such as job strain, and have required consistent availability of the measure across waves and selection of only those working at all measurement points.

Methods: Up to four waves of the Americans' Changing Lives study (1986 to 2001/2) and item-response theory (IRT) models were used to generate wave-specific measures of negative working conditions. Random-intercept linear mixed models assessed the association between the score and depressive symptoms.

Contextualizing nativity status, Latino social ties, and ethnic enclaves: an examination of the 'immigrant social ties hypothesis'.

Objectives: Researchers have posited that one potential explanation for the better-than-expected health outcomes observed among some Latino immigrants, vis-à-vis their US-born counterparts, may be the strength of social ties and social support among immigrants.

Methods: We examined the association between nativity status and social ties using data from the Chicago Community Adult Health Study's Latino subsample, which includes Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and other Latinos. First, we used ordinary least squares (OLS) regression methods to model the effect of nativity status on five outcomes: informal social integration; social network diversity; network size; instrumental support; and informational support.

Do special occasions trigger psychological distress among older bereaved spouses? An empirical assessment of clinical wisdom.

Objectives: Mental health professionals have suggested that widowed persons experience heightened psychological distress on dates that had special meaning for them and their late spouse, such as a wedding anniversary or the late spouse's birthday. This study examined the effects of such occasions on grief, anxiety, and depressive symptoms in a community sample of older widowed persons.

Methods: OLS regression models were estimated using data from the Changing Lives of Older Couples (CLOC) study, a large prospective probability study of late-life widowhood.

Variations in hypertension-related outcomes among Blacks, Whites and Hispanics in two large urban areas and in the United States.

Objective: This study compared the hypertension prevalence, awareness, treatment and control in Chicago, Illinois and Detroit, Michigan to that of the general United States population (aged > or = 25 years) for the period 2001-2003. We examined whether and how much 1) urban populations have less favorable hypertension-related outcomes and 2) the rates of racial/ethnic minorities lag behind those of Whites in order to determine if the national data understate the magnitude of hypertension-related outcomes and racial/ethnic disparities in two large cities in the Midwestern region of the United States and perhaps others.

Methods: Unstandardized and standardized hypertension-related outcome rates were estimated.

Social connectedness and disease transmission: social organization, cohesion, village context, and infection risk in rural Ecuador.

Social networks are typically seen as conduits for the spread of disease and disease risk factors. However, social relationships also reduce the incidence of chronic disease and potentially infectious diseases. Seldom are these opposing effects considered simultaneously.

The Unequal Burden of Weight Gain: An Intersectional Approach to Understanding Social Disparities in BMI Trajectories from 1986 to 2001/2002.

The implications of recent weight gain trends for widening social disparities in body weight in the United States are unclear. Using an intersectional approach to studying inequality, and the longitudinal and nationally representative American's Changing Lives study (19862001/2002), we examine social disparities in body mass index trajectories during a time of rapid weight gain in the United States. Results reveal complex interactive effects of gender, race, socioeconomic position and age, and provide evidence for increasing social disparities, particularly among younger adults.

Neighborhood context and social disparities in cumulative biological risk factors.

Objective: This study examines the role of neighborhood context in the accumulation of biological risk factors and racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities.

Methods: Data came from face-to-face interviews and blood sample collection on a probability sample of adults (n = 549) in the 2002 Chicago Community Adult Health Study. Following the approach of prior studies, we constructed an index of cumulative biological risk (CBR) by counting how many of eight biomarkers exceeded clinically defined criteria for "high risk": systolic and diastolic blood pressure, resting heart rate, hemoglobin A(1c), C-reactive protein, waist size, and total and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.

Cognitive function in the community setting: the neighbourhood as a source of 'cognitive reserve'?

Background: Existing research has found a positive association between cognitive function and residence in a socioeconomically advantaged neighbourhood. Yet, the mechanisms underlying this relationship have not been empirically investigated.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that neighbourhood socioeconomic structure is related to cognitive function partly through the availability of neighbourhood physical and social resources (eg, recreational facilities, community centres and libraries), which promote cognitively beneficial activities such as exercise and social integration.

Social security and mortality: the role of income support policies and population health in the United States.

Social Security is the most important and effective income support program ever introduced in the United States, alleviating the burden of poverty for millions of elderly Americans. We explored the possible role of Social Security in reducing mortality among the elderly. In support of this hypothesis, we found that declines in mortality among the elderly exceeded those among younger age groups following the initial implementation of Social Security in 1940, and also in the periods following marked improvements in Social Security benefits via legislation and indexing of benefits that occurred between the mid-1960s and the early 1970s.

Language of interview, self-rated health, and the other Latino health puzzle.

Objectives: We investigated whether the conventional Spanish translation of the self-rated health survey question helps explain why Latinos' self-rated health is worse than Whites' despite more objective health measures showing them to be as healthy as or healthier than are Whites.

Methods: We analyzed the relationship between language of interview and self-rated health in the Chicago Community Adult Health Study (2001-2003) and the 2003 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

Results: Being interviewed in Spanish was associated with significantly higher odds of rating health as fair or poor in both data sets.

Education and levels of salivary cortisol over the day in US adults.

Background: Dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is hypothesized to be an important pathway linking socioeconomic position and chronic disease.

Purpose: This paper tests the association between education and the diurnal rhythm of salivary cortisol.

Methods: Up to eight measures of cortisol (mean of 5.

Hopelessness, depression, and early markers of endothelial dysfunction in U.S. adults.

Objective: To examine whether the psychological traits of hopelessness and depressive symptoms are related to endothelial dysfunction.

Methods: Data are derived from a subsample of 434 respondents in the 2001 to 2003 Chicago Community Adult Health Study, a population-based survey designed to study the impact of psychological attributes, neighborhood environment, and socioeconomic circumstances on adults aged ≥18 years. Circulating biomarkers of endothelial dysfunction, including e-selectin, p-selectin, and soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (s-ICAM1) were obtained from serum samples.

Socioeconomic and behavioral risk factors for mortality in a national 19-year prospective study of U.S. adults.

Many demographic, socioeconomic, and behavioral risk factors predict mortality in the United States. However, very few population-based longitudinal studies are able to investigate simultaneously the impact of a variety of social factors on mortality. We investigated the degree to which demographic characteristics, socioeconomic variables and major health risk factors were associated with mortality in a nationally-representative sample of 3617 U.

Measurement of the local food environment: a comparison of existing data sources.

Studying the relation between the residential environment and health requires valid, reliable, and cost-effective methods to collect data on residential environments. This 2002 study compared the level of agreement between measures of the presence of neighborhood businesses drawn from 2 common sources of data used for research on the built environment and health: listings of businesses from commercial databases and direct observations of city blocks by raters. Kappa statistics were calculated for 6 types of businesses-drugstores, liquor stores, bars, convenience stores, restaurants, and grocers-located on 1,663 city blocks in Chicago, Illinois.

Racial and socioeconomic disparities in residential proximity to polluting industrial facilities: evidence from the Americans' Changing Lives Study.

Objectives: We sought to demonstrate the advantages of using individual-level survey data in quantitative environmental justice analyses and to provide new evidence regarding racial and socioeconomic disparities in the distribution of polluting industrial facilities.

Methods: Addresses of respondents in the baseline sample of the Americans' Changing Lives Study and polluting industrial facilities in the Environmental Protection Agency's Toxic Release Inventory were geocoded, allowing assessments of distances between respondents' homes and polluting facilities. The associations between race and other sociodemographic characteristics and living within 1 mile (1.

Perceived job insecurity and worker health in the United States.

Economic recessions, the industrial shift from manufacturing toward service industries, and rising global competition have contributed to uncertainty about job security, with potential consequences for workers' health. To address limitations of prior research on the health consequences of perceived job insecurity, we use longitudinal data from two nationally-representative samples of the United States population, and examine episodic and persistent perceived job insecurity over periods of about three years to almost a decade. Results show that persistent perceived job insecurity is a significant and substantively important predictor of poorer self-rated health in the American's Changing Lives (ACL) and Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) samples, and of depressive symptoms among ACL respondents.

Mobility disability and the urban built environment.

Research on the effects of the built environment in the pathway from impairment to disability has been largely absent. Using data from the Chicago Community Adult Health Study (2001-2003), the authors examined the effect of built environment characteristics on mobility disability among adults aged 45 or more years (n = 1,195) according to their level of lower extremity physical impairment. Built environment characteristics were assessed by using systematic social observation to independently rate street and sidewalk quality in the block surrounding each respondent's residence in the city of Chicago (Illinois).

Coping with spousal loss: potential buffering effects of self-reported helping behavior.

The present study examined the role of self-reported helping behavior in attenuating the helper's depression following spousal loss. Using archival data from the Changing Lives of Older Couples sample (N = 289), the study shows that among bereaved participants who had experienced high loss-related grief, helping behavior (providing instrumental support to others) was associated with an accelerated decline in depressive symptoms for the helper from 6 months to 18 months following spousal loss. This relationship between giving help and recovery from depression was independent of support received, as well as measured health, and interpersonal and demographic factors.

Upstream solutions: does the supplemental security income program reduce disability in the elderly?

Context: The robust relationship between socioeconomic factors and health suggests that social and economic policies might substantially affect health, while other evidence suggests that medical care, the main focus of current health policy, may not be the primary determinant of population health. Income support policies are one promising avenue to improve population health. This study examines whether the federal cash transfer program to poor elderly, the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, affects old-age disability.

Toward a better estimation of the effect of job loss on health.

Previous research has shown that involuntary job loss may have negative health consequences, but existing analyses have not adequately adjusted for health selection or other confounding factors that could reveal the association to be spurious. Using two large, population-based longitudinal samples of U.S.