Comparison of Race-neutral Versus Race-specific Spirometry Equations for Evaluation of Child Asthma.

Rationale: Race-based estimates of pulmonary function in children could influence the evaluation of asthma in children from racial and ethnic minoritized backgrounds.

Objectives: To determine if race-neutral (GLI-Global) versus race-specific (GLI-Race-Specific) reference equations differentially impact spirometry evaluation of childhood asthma.

Methods: The analysis included 8,719 children aged 5 to <12 years from 27 cohorts across the United States grouped by parent-reported race and ethnicity.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Sex Ratio at Birth in Ireland.

Objectives: The sex ratio at birth (SRB), calculated as male divided by total live births, is an important indicator of population health. Typically, male live births slightly outnumber female live births. Population events, including pandemics, can alter the SRB, with effects sometimes evident 9 months post-event, potentially due to changes in sexual behavior and/or stress levels.

Were fewer boys born in the United States during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic? A test of the Trivers-Willard hypothesis.

The Trivers-Willard hypothesis predicts that mammalian parents in poor environmental conditions will favor the offspring sex with more reliable chance of reproductive success, which in humans is females. Three months following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa, England, and Wales, there were significant decreases in the sex ratio at birth (SRB) (male births/total live births). We analyzed this ratio with a seasonal autoregressive moving average model, and a logistic regression, using nationwide natality data for all singleton births in the United States from 2015 to 2021 (n = 25,201,620 total births).

Integrating genetic and socioeconomic data to predict the progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Objectives: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the leading cause of chronic liver disease globally, with an estimated prevalence exceeding 25%. Variants in the PNPLA3 and HSD17B13 genes have been a focus of investigations surrounding the etiology and progression of NAFLD and are believed to contribute to a greater burden of disease experienced by Hispanic Americans. However, little is known about socioeconomic factors influencing NAFLD progression or its increased prevalence among Hispanics.

Clinicians' perspectives on race-specific guidelines for hypertensive treatment.

Despite the general consensus that there is no biological basis to race, racial categorization is still used by clinicians to guide diagnosis and treatment plans for certain diseases. In medicine, race is commonly used as a rough proxy for unmeasured social, environmental, and genetic factors. The American College of Cardiology's Eighth Joint National Committee's (JNC 8) guidelines for the treatment of hypertension provide race-specific medication recommendations for Black versus non-Black patients, without strong evidence for race-specific physiological differences in drug response.

Solutions From Mexican-Descent Perinatal Women To Pandemic-Related Food, Mental Health, And Health And Safety Stressors.

Latina women in the US were disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic because of structural racism, including discrimination, reduced care access, and elevated risk for illness and death. Although several US policies were implemented to offset the economic toll of the pandemic, few addressed complex stressors, particularly those among Mexican-descent mothers. This qualitative study with thirty-eight perinatal women and mothers of young children who were of Mexican descent sought to identify pandemic-related stressors and solicit recommendations for addressing them during future large-scale crises.

COVID-19-Related Risk, Resilience, and Mental Health Among Mexican American Mothers Across the First Year of the Pandemic.

Background: Latina mothers have been especially affected by the pandemic and historically exhibit high rates of depression and anxiety. However, few longitudinal studies have assessed the effect of the pandemic on this vulnerable population. We hypothesized that COVID-19-related stressors would associate with psychological distress among Latina mothers across the first year of the pandemic.

Considerations, Caveats, and Suggestions for the Use of Polygenic Scores for Social and Behavioral Traits.

Polygenic scores (PGS) are increasingly being used for prediction of social and behavioral traits, but suffer from many methodological, theoretical, and ethical concerns that profoundly limit their value. Primarily, these scores are derived from statistical correlations, carrying no inherent biological meaning, and thus may capture indirect effects. Further, the performance of these scores depends upon the diversity of the reference populations and the genomic panels from which they were derived, which consistently underrepresent minoritized populations, leading to poor fit when applied to diverse groups.

Early Evidence of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Obscured by Race-Specific Prediction Equations.

The identification of early chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is essential to appropriately counsel patients regarding smoking cessation, provide symptomatic treatment, and eventually develop disease-modifying treatments. Disease severity in COPD is defined using race-specific spirometry equations. These may disadvantage non-White individuals in diagnosis and care.

Changes in mental health symptoms and sociocultural factors across the COVID-19 pandemic in mothers of Mexican descent.

Latinos have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. Little is known about the lasting effects on mental health, particularly among mothers of young children, who historically report high levels of depression and anxiety. We examined if anxiety and depression symptoms worsened for mothers of Mexican descent across the pandemic and identified the role of sociocultural risk and protective factors on these changes.

Race-Specific Spirometry Equations Do Not Improve Models of Dyspnea and Quantitative Chest CT Phenotypes.

Background: Race-specific spirometry reference equations are used globally to interpret lung function for clinical, research, and occupational purposes, but inclusion of race is under scrutiny.

Research Question: Does including self-identified race in spirometry reference equation formation improve the ability of predicted FEV values to explain quantitative chest CT abnormalities, dyspnea, or Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) classification?

Study Design And Methods: Using data from healthy adults who have never smoked in both the National Health and Nutrition Survey (2007-2012) and COPDGene study cohorts, race-neutral, race-free, and race-specific prediction equations were generated for FEV Using sensitivity/specificity, multivariable logistic regression, and random forest models, these equations were applied in a cross-sectional analysis to populations of individuals who currently smoke and individuals who formerly smoked to determine how they affected GOLD classification and the fit of models predicting quantitative chest CT phenotypes or dyspnea.

Results: Race-specific equations showed no advantage relative to race-neutral or race-free equations in models of quantitative chest CT phenotypes or dyspnea.

Changes in sociocultural stressors, protective factors, and mental health for US Latina mothers in a shifting political climate.

Background: To investigate changes in sociocultural stressors and protective factors, and mental health in Latina mothers before and after the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

Methods: We examined changes in sociocultural stressors, protective factors, and mental health from two prospective cohorts of Latina mothers from interior and border US cities (Nashville, TN, n = 39 and San Diego, CA, ns range = 78-83; 2013-2020).

Results: We identified significant longitudinal increases in depression, anxiety, and perceived stress in the border city, and reductions in protective factors (e.

Genomic supremacy: the harm of conflating genetic ancestry and race.

Background: Recent studies have reignited the tinderbox of debate surrounding the use of race and ancestry in medicine. These controversial studies have argued for a strong correlation between genetic ancestry and race, justifying continued use of genetic ancestry measures in studies of disease. These studies contend that increased use of continental ancestry estimates can inform clinical risk assessments and management.

A Developmental Framework for Embodiment Research: The Next Step Toward Integrating Concepts and Methods.

Embodiment research is at a turning point. There is an increasing amount of data and studies investigating embodiment phenomena and their role in mental processing and functions from across a wide range of disciplines and theoretical schools within the life sciences. However, the integration of behavioral data with data from different biological levels is challenging for the involved research fields such as movement psychology, social and developmental neuroscience, computational psychosomatics, social and behavioral epigenetics, human-centered robotics, and many more.

Epigenetics as a Mechanism of Developmental Embodiment of Stress, Resilience, and Cardiometabolic Risk Across Generations of Latinx Immigrant Families.

Psychosocial stressors can become embodied to alter biology throughout the life course in ways that may have lasting health consequences. Immigrants are particularly vulnerable to high burdens of stress, which have heightened in the current sociopolitical climate. This study is an investigation of how immigration-related stress (IRS) may impact the cardiometabolic risk and epigenetic markers of Latinx immigrant mothers and children in Nashville, TN.

Epigenetic age associates with psychosocial stress and resilience in children of Latinx immigrants.

To investigate associations of psychosocial stressors and resilience factors with DNA methylation age in the saliva of Latinx children of immigrants before and after the 2016 presidential election (2015-2018). We compared psychosocial exposures with four distinct measures of epigenetic age assessed in the saliva of children (6-13 years, n = 71 pre-election; n = 35 post-election). Exploratory genome-wide analyses were also conducted.

Social epigenomics: are we at an impasse?

Social scientists have placed particularly high expectations on the study of epigenomics to explain how exposure to adverse social factors like poverty, child maltreatment and racism - particularly early in childhood - might contribute to complex diseases. However, progress has stalled, reflecting many of the same challenges faced in genomics, including overhype, lack of diversity in samples, limited replication and difficulty interpreting significance of findings. This review focuses on the future of social epigenomics by discussing progress made, ongoing methodological and analytical challenges and suggestions for improvement.