Publications by authors named "Katherine L Tucker"
Background: Hypertension is a key risk factor for death and disability, and blood pressure reduction is associated with significant reductions in cardiovascular risk. Large trials have shown that interventions including self-monitoring of blood pressure can reduce blood pressure but real-world data from wider implementation are lacking.
Aim: The self-monitoring and management service evaluation in primary care (SHIP) study will evaluate a novel digital intervention for hypertension management and medication titration platform ("Hypertension-Plus") that is currently undergoing initial implementation into primary care in several parts of the UK.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigated how perceived discrimination and depression relate to persistent prescription opioid use (PPOU) among Puerto Rican adults in Massachusetts, where opioid overdose deaths are rising.
- Data from the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study indicated that both depression and perceived discrimination were linked to PPOU, with depression being a partial mediator of this association.
- The findings suggest that efforts to address opioid use in underserved communities should consider the impacts of discrimination and mental health, highlighting the need for tailored public health strategies.
Article Synopsis
- The COVID-19 pandemic increased the reliance on telemedicine, particularly in maternity care, leading to the BUMP trials which evaluated self-monitoring blood pressure for pregnant individuals at risk of hypertension.
- Qualitative interviews with 39 pregnant women revealed that while self-monitoring was generally seen as reassuring and empowering, it also created uncertainty and added responsibility, causing some women to opt out of the intervention.
- Ultimately, the BUMP trials did not demonstrate significant improvements in early detection or management of hypertension from blood pressure self-monitoring in pregnant women at higher risk for preeclampsia.
Residents of Puerto Rico face a high burden of food insecurity (FI), which has been associated with insomnia symptoms (IS). However, this association remains understudied in Puerto Rican young adults, a vulnerable group experiencing an elevated prevalence of FI and poor sleep. We evaluated the association between FI and IS and the mediating role of psychological distress symptoms among young adults in Puerto Rico.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOptimal Instruments for Measurement of Dietary Intake, Physical Activity, and Sleep Among Adults in Population-Based Studies: Report of a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Workshop.
J Am Heart Assoc
November 2024
Article Synopsis
- The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute held a virtual workshop in September 2022 to explore effective methods for measuring diet, physical activity, and sleep, identifying research gaps and future directions.
- Key discussions highlighted the integration of self-reported data from questionnaires with device-based assessments like wearables and biomarkers to improve chronic disease understanding.
- The workshop emphasized the need for data harmonization and standardization to enhance analysis through AI and machine learning, ultimately aiming to improve accuracy and comparability of lifestyle behavior studies.
Article Synopsis
- Actively involving pregnant individuals in self-monitoring their health, such as blood pressure and protein levels, is becoming a common practice, especially for those with hypertension.
- Research on self-monitoring blood pressure shows acceptance, but there's limited evidence on self-testing for proteinuria and its impact on traditional maternity care structures.
- A qualitative study involving interviews and focus groups revealed a positive view of participatory monitoring among both pregnant people and professionals, but highlighted concerns about maintaining professional oversight and how healthcare access might be influenced by judgments on who is fit to self-test.
Phosphorus (P) additives may be deleterious for health. We measured the P content of key foods, and associations of P intake with biomarkers in the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study (BPRHS). Direct chemical analysis of 92 foods was done with the molybdenum blue spectrophotometric method and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: We aimed to determine the relationship between socioeconomic and psychological factors and overall cardiovascular health (CVH), as defined by the American Heart Association's Life's Essential 8 (LE8), among young adults in Puerto Rico.
Methods: Participants were 2156 young adults, between the ages of 18-29 years, enrolled in the PR-OUTLOOK study. The analysis included survey, laboratory, and physical measurement data collected from September 2020 to November 2023.
Article Synopsis
- Young adults in Puerto Rico have below ideal cardiovascular health (CVH), with 72.6% scoring less than 80 on the CVH scale, indicating significant health risks.
- Men exhibit worse overall CVH scores and specific health metrics (like nicotine exposure and blood pressure) compared to women, but women show lower physical activity levels.
- The findings highlight the urgent need for further research and targeted interventions to improve CVH in this demographic, especially considering the identified sex differences.
Article Synopsis
- Residents of Puerto Rico have faced several hardships, including natural disasters and political issues, leading to poorer mental and physical health outcomes, but resilience and coping strategies may help improve health behaviors.
- A study assessing 1,342 adults from Puerto Rico between 2019 and 2023 found that higher psychological resilience and resilient coping were linked to better diet quality, sleep patterns, and physical activity levels.
- The findings indicated that these positive effects were even stronger during the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting that fostering resilience and coping can be crucial for maintaining healthy behaviors in challenging times.
(1) Background: Branched-chain and aromatic amino acids (BCAAs/AAAs) have been considered as markers of type 2 diabetes (T2D); however, studies on associations between these metabolites and T2D and cardiometabolic traits in Hispanic populations are limited. The aim of this study was to examine the associations between baseline BCAAs (isoleucine, leucine, valine)/AAAs (phenylalanine, tyrosine) and prevalent and incident T2D, as well as baseline and longitudinal (2 year) changes in cardiometabolic traits (measures of glycemia, dyslipidemia, inflammation, and obesity) in two large cohorts of adults of Puerto Rican descent. (2) Methods: We included participants of the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study (BPRHS, = 670) and San Juan Overweight Adult Longitudinal study (SOALS, = 999) with available baseline metabolite and covariate data.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The black/white heart disease mortality disparity began increasing in the early 1980's, coincident with the switch from sucrose to high-fructose-corn-syrup/(HFCS) in the US food supply. There has been more fructose in HFCS than generally-recognized-as-safe/GRAS, which has contributed to unprecedented excess-free-fructose/(unpaired-fructose) in foods/beverages. Average- per-capita excess-free-fructose, from HFCS, began exceeding dosages/(5-10 g) that trigger fructose-malabsorption in the early 1980's.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Recent studies have implicated acetyl-L-carnitine as well as other acylcarnitines in depression. To our knowledge, no untargeted metabolomics studies have been conducted among US mainland Puerto Ricans.
Objectives: We conducted untargeted metabolomic profiling on plasma from 736 participants of the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study.
Magnesium (Mg) plays a key role in neurological functioning and manifestations. However, the evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and cohorts on Mg and cognitive health among adults has not been systematically reviewed. We aimed to examine the associations of various Mg forms (supplements, dietary intake, and biomarkers) with cognitive outcomes by summarizing evidence from RCTs and cohorts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFood frequency questionnaires require updating over time, due to population changes in diet, posing analytical challenges in consistently measuring diet in prospective studies. We compared reliability and agreement between nutrients in two versions of the National Cancer Institute's web-based Diet History Questionnaire (DHQ, III vs. II) in an ongoing North American preconception study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To examine the association of biopsychosocial stress indicators (perceived stress, perceived discrimination, stressful life events, and allostatic load) with sleep outcomes (sleep duration and insomnia symptoms) and to examine sex and age interactions for associations between stress and sleep in older Puerto Rican adults.
Methods: Secondary analyses were performed with 830 participants (72% female) from wave 2 (2006-2011) of the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study (BPRHS), a prospective population-based cohort study (45-75years at baseline) and Boston Puerto Rican Osteoporosis Study (BPROS) (2007-2012), an ancillary study of the BPRHS. Recruitment occurred in randomly selected census blocks using door-to-door and community-based activities.
Background: Emerging evidence suggests that poor dietary quality is an important risk factor for disability. However, few studies have compared adherence to dietary patterns with disability and none among Puerto Rican adults.
Objectives: This study was designed to examine relationships between 3 dietary patterns-including Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), Mediterranean dietary score (MeDS), and Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2010-and ∼6-y incidence of activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) disability and to assess potential mediation by handgrip strength.
Importance: Previous studies have reported that lifestyle factors were associated with life expectancy and/or mortality, but most of them studied the middle-aged or older age groups (aged ≥60 years), and few focused on people aged 80 years or older.
Objectives: To examine healthy lifestyle and the likelihood of becoming centenarians among people aged 80 years or older in China.
Design, Settings, And Participants: Using data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, a nationally representative and one of the largest prospective cohorts targeting people aged 80 years or older established in 1998, a community-based, prospective nested case-control study was performed.
Background: The relation between phosphorus (P) intake and obesity is equivocal, with hypotheses in both directions.
Objectives: We investigated the relationship between P intake, assessed from a current database, and calculated bioavailable P intake and obesity among African-American adults.
Methods: We examined associations between original and bioavailable P (total, added, and natural) and BMI and waist circumference (WC) in a cross-sectional study of 5306 African-American adults (21-84 y) from the Jackson Heart Study.
Article Synopsis
- A study involving 7,801 older adults examined the connection between fruit and vegetable consumption and the development of depression, finding that higher fruit intake was linked to a lower risk of depression.
- Over a follow-up period of 3 to 9 years, 21% of participants developed depression, with fruit intake showing a significant protective effect, while vegetable intake did not show a notable association.
- The authors noted limitations due to varied measurement methods and the relatively modest sample size, suggesting further research is needed on fruit and vegetable consumption in larger, more standardized studies among older adults in low- and middle-income countries.
(1) Aims: Gut microbiota metabolites may play integral roles in human metabolism and disease progression. However, evidence for associations between metabolites and cardiometabolic risk factors is sparse, especially in high-risk Hispanic populations. We aimed to evaluate the cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between gut microbiota related metabolites and measures of glycemia, dyslipidemia, adiposity, and incident type 2 diabetes in two Hispanic observational cohorts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Mediterranean diet is a well-studied cultural model of healthy eating, yet research on healthy models from other cultures and cuisines has been limited. This perspective article summarizes the components of traditional Latin American, Asian, and African heritage diets, their association with diet quality and markers of health, and implications for nutrition programs and policy. Though these diets differ in specific foods and flavors, we present a common thread that emphasizes healthful plant foods and that is consistent with high dietary quality and low rates of major causes of disability and deaths.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Hypomagnesemia is commonly observed in individuals with diabetes, but how diabetes medications alter magnesium (Mg) status remains unclear.
Objectives: We aimed to examine the association between diabetes medication and hypomagnesemia and evaluate whether serum Mg mediates the association between diabetes medication and Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) in a prospective cohort.
Methods: Adults from the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study were included (n = 1106).
Background: Recent studies have identified plasma metabolites associated with cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease; however, little research on this topic has been conducted in Latinos, especially Puerto Ricans.
Objective: This study aims to add to the growing body of metabolomics research in Latinos to better understand and improve the health of this population.
Methods: We assessed the association between plasma metabolites and global cognition over 12 years of follow-up in 736 participants of the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study (BPRHS).
Article Synopsis
- - Osteoporosis (OP) is a serious condition that can lead to fractures and is often hard to diagnose due to unnoticed symptoms, highlighting the need for understanding genetic risks for early detection.
- - The Boston Puerto Rican Osteoporosis Study (BPROS) assessed bone health through bone measurements and dietary data, analyzing genetic associations with bone mineral density (BMD) and OP among 978 participants.
- - The study found significant genetic variants linked to OP and BMD, as well as interactions between certain genetic markers and dietary quality, particularly involving sugar-sweetened beverages.