Use of renin-angiotensin system blockers and posttraumatic stress disorder risk in the UK Biobank: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Previous research has shown that the use of renin-angiotensin system (RAS) blockers is linked to a lower prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but longitudinal studies are scarce. We aimed to estimate the association between the use of RAS blockers and the risk of PTSD among individuals taking antihypertensive medications.

Methods: This longitudinal study included participants aged 40-69 from the UK Biobank.

Differences in Breastfeeding Initiation and Duration by Migration History in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos.

To estimate differences in breastfeeding initiation and duration across dimensions of migration history (migration to the U.S. 50 states/District of Columbia [DC] in childhood, adulthood, or not at all) in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL).

Types and timing of trauma exposure across the life course and maternal hypertension.

Background: Exposure to trauma across the life course may be associated with cardio-metabolic dysfunction during pregnancy; however, previous research has been inconsistent, particularly in highly exposed populations.

Objectives: To estimate associations between types and timing (first occurrence) of trauma exposure and hypertension experienced during pregnancy in a safety-net hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, 2011-2022.

Methods: Participants completed a 14-item trauma screener.

A sociodemographic index identifies sex-related effects on insomnia in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos.

Study Objectives: Sex differences are related to both biological factors and the gendered environment. We constructed measures to model sex-related differences beyond binary sex.

Methods: Data came from the baseline visit of the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL).

The Association Between a Neighborhood Adverse Childhood Experiences Index and Body Mass Index Among New York City Youth.

The role of neighborhood factors in the association between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and body mass index (BMI) has not been widely studied. A neighborhood ACEs index (NAI) captures neighborhood environment factors associated with ACE exposure. This study examined associations between BMI and an NAI among New York City (NYC) youth.

Adverse childhood experiences and adult disease: Examining mediating pathways in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos Sociocultural Ancillary Study.

Objectives: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been linked to adulthood chronic diseases, but there is little research examining the mechanisms underlying this association. We tested pathways from ACEs to adult disease mediated via risk factors of depression, smoking, and body mass index.

Method: Prospective data from adults 18 to 74 years old from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos and Sociocultural Ancillary Study were used.

Associations of childhood, adolescence, and midlife cognitive function with DNA methylation age acceleration in midlife.

Prior studies showed increased age acceleration (AgeAccel) is associated with worse cognitive function among old adults. We examine the associations of childhood, adolescence and midlife cognition with AgeAccel based on DNA methylation (DNAm) in midlife. Data are from 359 participants who had cognition measured in childhood and adolescence in the Child Health and Development study, and had cognition, blood based DNAm measured during midlife in the Disparities study.

School Poverty Level Moderates the Effectiveness of a Physical Activity Intervention.

Purpose: To explore whether school poverty level and funding modified the effectiveness of an evidence-based Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program called implemented in elementary schools in Georgia.

Design: Secondary data analysis of a multi-level, cluster-randomized controlled trial.

Setting: 40 elementary schools in Georgia in 2018-2019.

Association Between Gender-affirming Hormone Therapy and Measures of Glucose Metabolism: A Longitudinal Study.

Context: The long-term effect of gender-affirming hormone therapy (GAHT) on glucose metabolism is an area of priority in transgender health research.

Objectives: To evaluate the relation between GAHT and changes in fasting blood glucose (FG) and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) in transmasculine (TM) and transfeminine (TF) persons relative to the corresponding temporal changes in presumably cisgender persons (ie, without any evidence of gender diversity).

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Sleep Disturbances Among Puerto Rican Young Adults.

Importance: Sleep quality is a known marker of overall health. Studies suggest that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with sleep disturbances among children and adults.

Objective: To examine the association of retrospective and prospective ACEs with sleep quality among a cohort of Puerto Rican young adults from 2 sociocultural contexts.

A sociodemographic index identifies non-biological sex-related effects on insomnia in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos.

Background: Sex differences are related to both biological factors and the gendered environment. To untangle sex-related effects on health and disease it is important to model sex-related differences better.

Methods: Data came from the baseline visit of the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL), a longitudinal cohort study following 16,415 individuals recruited at baseline from four study sites: Bronx NY, Miami FL, San Diego CA, and Chicago IL.

Joint effects of indoor air pollution and maternal psychosocial factors during pregnancy on trajectories of early childhood psychopathology.

Prenatal indoor air pollution and maternal psychosocial factors have been associated with adverse psychopathology. We used environmental-exposure mixture methodology to investigate joint effects of both exposure classes on child behavior trajectories. For 360 children from the South African Drakenstein Child Health Study, we created trajectories of Child Behavior Checklist scores (at 24, 42, and 60 months) using latent-class linear mixed effects models.

Self-reported neighborhood stressors and sleep quality among Puerto Rican young adults.

Objective: To examine the association between changes in self-reported neighborhood stressors and sleep quality and determine whether this varied by sociocultural context among Puerto Rican young adults.

Methods: Data come from the Boricua Youth Study Health Assessment, a sample of Puerto Rican young adults from San Juan, Puerto Rico, and South Bronx, New York (n = 818; mean age=22.9years).

Joint effects of prenatal exposure to indoor air pollution and psychosocial factors on early life inflammation.

It is hypothesized that air pollution and stress impact the central nervous system through neuroinflammatory pathways Despite this, the association between prenatal exposure to indoor air pollution and psychosocial factors on inflammatory markers in infancy has been underexplored in epidemiology studies. This study investigates the individual and joint effects of prenatal exposure to indoor air pollution and psychosocial factors on early life inflammation (interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)). We analyzed data from the South African Drakenstein Child Health Study (N = 225).

Childhood maltreatment and trajectories of cardiometabolic health across the reproductive life span among individuals with a first birth during the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study.

Objective: Childhood adversity is associated with poor cardiometabolic health in adulthood; little is known about how this relationship evolves through childbearing years for parous individuals. The goal was to estimate differences in cardiometabolic health indicators before, during and after childbearing years by report of childhood maltreatment in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) cohort study.

Methods: Including 743 individuals nulliparous at baseline (1985-1986) with one or more pregnancies >20 weeks during follow-up (1986-2022), we fit segmented linear regression models to estimate mean differences between individuals reporting or not reporting childhood maltreatment (physical or emotional) in waist circumference, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting glucose, and body mass index (BMI) prior to, during, and following childbearing years using generalized estimating equations, allowing for interaction between maltreatment and time within each segment, and adjusting for total parity, parental education, and race (Black or white, self-reported).

Cumulative Stress Across the Life Course and Biological Aging in Adulthood.

Objective: Psychosocial stressors have been linked with accelerated biological aging in adults; however, few studies have examined stressors across the life course in relation to biological aging.

Methods: In 359 individuals (57% White, 34% Black) from the Child Health and Development Studies Disparities study, economic (income, education, financial strain), social (parent-child relations, caretaker responsibilities) and traumatic (death of a sibling or child, violence exposure) stressors were assessed at multiple time points (birth and ages 9, 15, and 50 years). Experiences of major discrimination were assessed at age 50.

Racial Disparities in COVID-19 Severity Are Partially Mediated by Chronic Stress-Evidence from a Large Integrated Healthcare System.

Background: Racial and ethnic minorities have experienced a disproportionate burden of severe COVID-19. Whether chronic stress, also disproportionately experienced by racial and ethnic minorities, explains this excess risk is unknown.

Methods: We identified 9577 adults (≥ 18 years) diagnosed with COVID-19 from January 1, 2020, through September 30, 2021, enrolled in Kaiser Permanente Georgia (KPGA) with complete biomarker data.

Understanding the role of childhood nurture, abuse, and stability on gestational diabetes in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study (CARDIA).

Background: To estimate associations between facets of the maternal childhood family environment with gestational diabetes (GDM) and to test mediation by pre-pregnancy waist circumference.

Methods: We used data from CARDIA, a cohort of individuals aged 18-30 years at baseline (1985-86), followed over 30 years (2016). We included participants with one or more pregnancies ≥ 20 weeks after baseline, without pre-pregnancy diabetes.

Policy solutions to eliminate racial and ethnic child health disparities in the USA.

Societal systems act individually and in combination to create and perpetuate structural racism through both policies and practices at the local, state, and federal levels, which, in turn, generate racial and ethnic health disparities. Both current and historical policy approaches across multiple sectors-including housing, employment, health insurance, immigration, and criminal legal-have the potential to affect child health equity. Such policies must be considered with a focus on structural racism to understand which have the potential to eliminate or at least attenuate disparities.

Racial and ethnic inequities in the quality of paediatric care in the USA: a review of quantitative evidence.

Racial and ethnic inequities in paediatric care have received increased research attention over the past two decades, particularly in the past 5 years, alongside an increased societal focus on racism. In this Series paper, the first in a two-part Series focused on racism and child health in the USA, we summarise evidence on racial and ethnic inequities in the quality of paediatric care. We review studies published between Jan 1, 2017 and July 31, 2022, that are adjusted for or stratified by insurance status to account for group differences in access, and we exclude studies in which differences in access are probably driven by patient preferences or the appropriateness of intervention.

Neighborhood and Household Environment as Contributors to Racial Disparities in Sleep Duration among U.S. Adolescents.

Objective: Racial disparities in adolescent sleep duration have been documented, but pathways driving these disparities are not well understood. This study examined whether neighborhood and household environments explained racial disparities in adolescent sleep duration.

Methods: Participants came from Waves I and II of Add Health (n=13,019).

Types and timing of trauma exposure across the life course and maternal hypertension.

Objective: To estimate associations between types and timing (first occurrence and time since) of trauma exposure and hypertension experienced during pregnancy in a safety-net hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.

Methods: Participants completed a 14-item trauma screener. We linked that information to data from the medical record on hypertension (inclusive of chronic hypertension, gestational hypertension, or preeclampsia).

Shift-and-persist strategies as a potential protective factor against symptoms of psychological distress among young adults in Puerto Rico.

Objective: Residents of Puerto Rico are disproportionately exposed to social and environmental stressors (e.g., Hurricane María and the 2020 sequence of tremors) known to be associated with psychological distress.