Sleep Disturbance Mediates the Associations Between HIV Stigma and Mental and Physical Health Among Black Adults with HIV.

Objectives: Black Americans have been disproportionally affected by the HIV epidemic, and experience significant disparities in sleep health, mental health, and physical health domains. Using longitudinal data from a sample of Black adults with HIV, the current study examined the associations between stigma and mental and physical health outcomes and how sleep disturbance may play a mediating role.

Methods: Data were drawn from a recent randomized controlled trial.

Food Insecurity Among Aging SNAP Participants and Eligible Nonparticipants in Two Predominantly Low-Income Black Neighborhoods: Implications for SNAP Enrollment and Outreach for Older Adults.

Background: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) plays a critical role in alleviating poverty and food insecurity. Despite these benefits, many older Americans who are eligible for SNAP do not participate in the program. Few studies have explored household factors and food insecurity outcomes associated with nonparticipation among older Black Americans.

Association of Place With Adolescent Obesity.

Importance: Despite strong evidence linking place and obesity risk, the extent to which this link is causal or reflects sorting into places is unclear.

Objective: To examine the association of place with adolescents' obesity and explore potential causal pathways, such as shared environments and social contagion.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This natural experiment study used the periodic reassignment of US military servicemembers to installations as a source of exogenous variation in exposure to difference places to estimate the association between place and obesity risk.

Examining the Cross-sectional Association Between Neighborhood Conditions, Discrimination, and Telomere Length in a Predominantly African American Sample.

Disproportionate exposure to adverse neighborhood conditions and greater discrimination may contribute to health disparities among African Americans (AAs). We examined whether adverse neighborhood conditions, alone or in conjunction with discrimination, associate with shorter leukocyte telomere length among a predominantly AA cohort. The sample included 200 residents from two low-income neighborhoods (96% AA; mean age = 67 years).

Longitudinal associations between sleep and BMI in a low-income, predominantly Black American sample.

Objective: Black individuals and those experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage are at increased risk for sleep problems and obesity. This study adds to the limited extant literature examining longitudinal associations between objectively measured sleep and changes in body mass index (BMI) in Black Americans.

Design: We focused on individuals with at least 1 observation of sleep and BMI at 1 of 3 study time points (2013, 2016, and 2018).

Randomized Controlled Trial of Rise, A Community-Based Culturally Congruent Counseling Intervention to Support Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence Among Black/African American Adults Living with HIV.

Structural inequities have led to HIV disparities, including relatively low antiretroviral therapy adherence and viral suppression rates among Black Americans living with HIV. We conducted a randomized controlled trial of Rise, a community-based culturally congruent adherence intervention, from January 2018 to December 2021 with 166 (85 intervention, 81 control) Black adults living with HIV in Los Angeles County, California [M (SD) = 49.0 (12.

Trends In Home Care Versus Nursing Home Workforce Sizes: Are States Converging Or Diverging Over Time?

There is strong preference among people with disabling conditions to receive care at home rather than in an institutional setting. Differences in state policies may make this more feasible in some states than others. Yet no study to date has examined trends in the long-term care workforce across states.

Neighborhood Food Environment Associated with Cardiometabolic Health among Predominately Low-income, Urban, Black Women.

Objectives: This study sought to: 1) understand how the perceived food environment (availability, accessibility, and affordability) is associated with cardiometabolic health outcomes in predominately low-income Black residents in urban neighborhoods with limited healthy food access; and 2) examine the association of shopping at specific store types with cardiometabolic health outcomes.

Methods: We report on cross-sectional data from 459 individuals participating in the Pittsburgh, PA Hill/Homewood Research on Neighborhoods and Health (PHRESH) study. Mean participant age was 60.

Examining the diagnostic validity of the Berlin Questionnaire in a low-income Black American sample.

Study Objectives: Black individuals and individuals of low socioeconomic status are at increased risk for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The Berlin Questionnaire is one of the most widely used screening tools for OSA; however, there is limited research on its diagnostic accuracy in low-income Black populations.

Methods: This study analyzed data from an ongoing study taking place among a cohort from 2 predominantly Black neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (96.

SNAP Participants and High Levels of Food Insecurity in the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Objectives: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has disproportionately strained households experiencing poverty, particularly Black and Latino households. Food insecurity, which entails having limited or uncertain access to a sufficient quantity of nutritious food, is a key pandemic-related consequence. We examined how people enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) have been affected by the pandemic, particularly Black participants and participants residing in food deserts.

An audit tool for longitudinal assessment of the health-related characteristics of urban neighborhoods: implementation methods and reliability results.

Background: Improving the neighborhood environment may help address chronic disease and mortality. To identify neighborhood features that are predictors of health, objective assessments of the environment are used. Multiple studies have reported on cross-sectional assessments of health-related neighborhood features using direct observation.

Violent crime, police presence and poor sleep in two low-income urban predominantly Black American neighbourhoods.

Objective: To examine violent crime in relation to sleep and explore pathways, including psychological distress, safety perceptions and perceived police presence, that may account for associations.

Methods: In 2018, 515 predominantly Black American (94%) adults (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA) provided survey data: actigraphy-assessed sleep duration and wakefulness after sleep onset (WASO). We estimated pathways from violent crime (2016-2018) to sleep through psychological distress, perceptions of safety and perceived adequacy of police presence.

Prevalence and correlates of obstructive sleep apnea in urban-dwelling, low-income, predominantly African-American women.

Study Objectives: The current study examined the prevalence and correlates of obstructive sleep apnea in a sample of low-income, predominantly African-American women using two waves of data.

Methods: Participants were adults from two urban neighborhoods who enrolled in the PHRESH Zzz Study (N = 828; Pittsburgh Hill/Homewood Research on Neighborhoods, Sleep, and Health). A subsample who reported never receiving OSA diagnosis completed home sleep apnea testing in 2016 (n = 269, mean age 55.

Do investments in low-income neighborhoods produce objective change in health-related neighborhood conditions?

This study examined the effect of neighborhood investments on neighborhood walkability, presence of incivilities, and crime in two low-income, primarily African American neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, USA. During the study period, one of the neighborhoods (the intervention neighborhood) received substantially more publicly-funded investments than a demographically matched comparison neighborhood. Comparisons between the neighborhoods showed a significant difference-in-difference for all three outcomes.

SNAP Participants Improved Food Security And Diet After A Full-Service Supermarket Opened In An Urban Food Desert.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the largest US food and nutrition assistance program, tasked with improving food security among low-income households. Another federal effort to improve food access is the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI), which invested tens of millions of dollars to incentivize healthy food retail outlets in areas lacking access to nutritious, fresh food. We explore the intersection of these programs, testing the impact of a new, HFFI-financed full-service supermarket on SNAP participants in an urban food desert.

A novel approach to anthropometric assessment for geographically dispersed samples: A pilot study.

Measurements by trained personnel are the criterion standard for assessments of body mass index (BMI) and obesity. Yet, in-person measurements are less practical for studies of geographically dispersed samples. Recent advances in technology and the success of telehealth suggests that videoconferencing may be promising.

School Food and Beverage Availability and Children's Diet, Purchasing, and Obesity: Evidence From a Natural Experiment.

Purpose: Existing evidence on relationships between school food environments and children's in-school purchases, dietary behaviors, and body composition is based on observational studies that are vulnerable to residential selection bias.

Methods: This study leveraged exogenous variation in school environments generated by the natural experiment due to military parents' assignment to installations. We analyzed 1,010 child-wave observations from the Military Teenagers Environments, Exercise, and Nutrition Study collected during 2013-2015.

Improved Street Walkability, Incivilities, and Esthetics Are Associated with Greater Park Use in Two Low-Income Neighborhoods.

Parks may provide opportunities for people to increase their physical activity and improve health. Yet, parks are generally less plentiful and underutilized in low-income urban neighborhoods compared with more advantaged neighborhoods. Renovations within and around parks may improve park utilization but the empirical evidence supporting this relationship is scarce.

Results from a natural experiment: initial neighbourhood investments do not change objectively-assessed physical activity, psychological distress or perceptions of the neighbourhood.

Background: Few studies have assessed objectively measured physical activity (PA), active transportation, psychological distress and neighborhood perceptions among residents of a neighborhood before and after substantial improvements in its physical environment. Also, most research-to-date has employed study designs subject to neighborhood selection, which may introduce bias in reported findings. We built upon a previously enrolled cohort of households from two low-income predominantly African American Pittsburgh neighborhoods, matched on socio-demographic composition including race/ethnicity, income and education.

The power of social networks and social support in promotion of physical activity and body mass index among African American adults.

Social support and social networks can elucidate important structural and functional aspects of social relationships that are associated with health-promoting behaviors, including Physical Activity (PA) and weight. A growing number of studies have investigated the relationship between social support, social networks, PA and obesity specifically among African Americans; however, the evidence is mixed and many studies focus exclusively on African American women. Most studies have also focused on either functional or structural aspects of social relationships (but not both) and few have objectively measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and body mass index (BMI).

Can the introduction of a full-service supermarket in a food desert improve residents' economic status and health?

Purpose: To estimate the impacts of a new supermarket in a low-income desert, on residents' economic status and health.

Methods: We surveyed a randomly selected cohort in two low-income Pittsburgh neighborhoods before and about 1 year following the opening of a supermarket. We used difference-in-difference approach to test changes across the two neighborhoods in residents' food security, United States Department of Agriculture Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women Infant and Children participation, employment, income, and self-reported health/chronic disease diagnoses.

Pathways through which higher neighborhood crime is longitudinally associated with greater body mass index.

Background: Although crime and perceived safety are associated with obesity and body mass index (BMI), the pathways are less clear. Two likely pathways by which crime and perceived safety may impact obesity are through distress and physical activity.

Methods: We examined data from 2013 to 2014 for 644 predominantly African-American adults (mean age 57 years; 77% female) living in low-income Pittsburgh, PA neighborhoods, including self-reported perceptions of safety and emotional distress, interviewer-measured height/weight, and physical activity measured via accelerometry.

Attitudes and Barriers to Healthy Diet and Physical Activity: A Latent Profile Analysis.

Healthy diet and physical activity (PA) prevent and reduce chronic disease. Social cognitive theory delineates multiple attitudes and barriers that influence these behaviors. Understanding covariation in these attitudes and barriers is complex.