Everyday functioning as a predictor of cognitive status in a group of community-dwelling, predominantly Black adults.

Introduction: We examined whether the Performance Assessment of Self-Care Skills (PASS) and Everyday Cognition Scale-12 (ECog-12) dichotomized cognitive groups in a sample of predominantly Black adults.

Methods: Two hundred forty-six community-dwelling adults (95% Black, age 50+) completed cognitive testing, the PASS, and the ECog. Cognitive groups (probable vs unlikely cognitive impairment) were determined by performance on the Modified Mini-Mental State Examination.

A Preliminary Analysis of Stress Burden and Cognitive Function and Clinically Adjudicated Cognitive Outcomes in Black American Adults.

Background: The combination of exposure to multiple stressors and psychological distress may contribute to the disproportionate burden of dementia risk among Black Americans. This study estimates the effect of an index of stress and psychological distress (ie, "stress burden") on cognitive function and clinically adjudicated cognitive outcomes among older Black American adults, and examines sleep as a mediator.

Methods: The sample included 204 Black adults (79% female; mean age = 64 years) from Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

Discrimination experiences and problematic alcohol and cannabis use in young adulthood.

Background And Objectives: Limited research has examined how discrimination in young adulthood relates to substance use. We examined how multiple and specific types (e.g.

Sleep Problems and Health Outcomes Among Urban American Indian and Alaska Native Adolescents.

Importance: Adolescent sleep problems are prevalent, particularly among racial and ethnic minority groups, and can increase morbidity. Despite the numerous strengths of their racial and ethnic group, urban American Indian and Alaska Native adolescents face significant health disparities but are rarely included in health research. Understanding how sleep problems are associated with health outcomes among American Indian and Alaska Native adolescents may elucidate novel targets for interventions to promote health equity.

Enhancing sleep health in urban American Indian/Alaska Native adolescents: Implications for culturally tailored interventions.

Background: Urban American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) adolescents are vulnerable to sleep and other health-related disparities due to numerous social drivers, including historical trauma and relocation to urban areas. This study aims to identify strategies to increase protective factors and culturally tailor sleep health interventions for this population.

Methods: Using community-based participatory research, the NAYSHAW study conducted in-depth interviews with urban AI/AN adolescents aged 12-19 years to understand critical components needed for developing a culturally sensitive sleep health intervention.

Development of the Couples' Sleep Conflict Scale: A new tool to assess conflict around sleep in romantic relationships.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Couples' Sleep Conflict Scale, a new measure designed to identify the extent of conflict around sleep in romantic relationships.

Methods: Data from an individual sample (N = 158) and dyadic sample (N = 143 mixed-gender couples) in romantic relationships were used to examine the psychometric properties of the Couples' Sleep Conflict Scale, including internal consistency, convergent and divergent validity, and whether the factor structure differed between couples with concordant and discordant chronotypes.

Results: Results revealed that the Couples' Sleep Conflict Scale fit a 1-factor solution of 5 items, a summed or mean score can be used, and that it is reliable for both men and women.

Bidirectional Associations Between Daily Sleep and Wake Behaviors in Urban American Indian/Alaska Native Youth.

Purpose: This is the first study to examine daily, bidirectional associations between sleep and wake behaviors/mood in urban American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) adolescents.

Methods: Participants were 142 urban AI/AN adolescents (mean age = 14 years, 58% female). Sleep was measured with actigraphy (total sleep time [TST] and sleep efficiency) and daily diary (bedtime, wakeup time, and sleep quality) over seven consecutive days.

Yours, mine, or ours? Dyadic sleep hygiene and associations with sleep quality, emotional distress, and conflict frequency in mixed-gender, bed-sharing couples.

Although prior research demonstrates the interdependence of sleep quality within couples (i.e., the sleep of one partner affects the sleep of the other), little is known about the degree to which couples' sleep hygiene behaviours are concordant or discordant, and if one's own sleep hygiene or their report of their partners' sleep hygiene is related to worse relational, psychological, and sleep outcomes.

Positive airway pressure adherence among patients with obstructive sleep apnea and cognitive impairment: A narrative review.

Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) have increased rates of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). Positive Airway Pressure (PAP) is the first-line treatment for OSA and may have potential benefits for slowing cognitive decline in these individuals. However, adherence is low in PAP users overall and those with cognitive impairment may have unique challenges.

Design of the think PHRESH longitudinal cohort study: Neighborhood disadvantage, cognitive aging, and alzheimer's disease risk in disinvested, black neighborhoods.

Background: Black Americans have disproportionately higher rates and earlier onset of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) relative to White Americans. We currently lack a comprehensive understanding of how the lived experience and broader societal factors, including cumulative exposure to structural racism and the mechanisms underlying the risks, may contribute to elevated ADRD risk in Black Americans.

Methods: The Think PHRESH study builds on existing, community-based research infrastructure, from the ongoing Pittsburgh Hill/Homewood Research on Neighborhood Change and Health (PHRESH) studies, to examine the contributions of dynamic neighborhood socioeconomic conditions across the lifecourse to cognitive outcomes in mid- and late-life adults living in two historically disinvested, predominantly Black communities (anticipated n = 1133).

Differential item functioning of the Acculturation, Habits, and Interests Multicultural Scale for Adolescents (AHIMSA) by race/ethnicity.

Background: Acculturation is a complex multidimensional construct that plays in important role in various outcomes across many domains (e.g., psychological, behavioral, social, and developmental).

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).

Food insecurity, sleep, and cardiometabolic risks in urban American Indian/Alaska Native youth.

Objectives: Food insecurity contributes to racial/ethnic disparities in health. This is the first study to examine associations among food insecurity, sleep, and cardiometabolic outcomes in urban American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) youth.

Design: Participants were 142 urban AI/AN youth (mean age = 14 years, 58% female).

Multi-dimensional Profiles of Risk and Their Association with Obesity-Severity in Low-Income Black Women.

Multi-level risk factors underlie disproportionate obesity rates among Black women. Latent class analysis of multi-level risk and protective factors among low-income Black women (n = 917) in 2011 (Pittsburgh, PA). Data were collected via in-person survey, interviewer-assisted online dietary recalls, and from 2011 crime records.

Rationale and study protocol for We-PAP: a randomized pilot/feasibility trial of a couples-based intervention to promote PAP adherence and sleep health compared to an educational control.

Background: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a serious health condition that affects approximately 30-50% of older adults and contributes to risk for cardiometabolic disorders and dementia. Despite the well-documented role of partners in treatment seeking and adherence to positive airway pressure (PAP), treatments for OSA have nearly exclusively focused on the patient and current treatments for OSA do not address co-existing sleep problems such as insomnia that are prevalent in both patients with OSA and their partners. Therefore, the goal of this study is to develop and test a novel couples-based sleep health intervention to promote adherence to PAP and improve sleep health of the couple.

Couples-based interventions to promote PAP adherence among older adults: a qualitative study of patients, partners, and providers.

Study Objectives: Bed partners play a critical role in the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea and are affected by the treatment (or lack thereof) of their partner's obstructive sleep apnea, but few studies have included partners formally in treatment. In this qualitative study, we examine key stakeholder perspectives (patient, bedpartner, and sleep medicine provider) to inform the development of a novel, couples-based intervention to promote adherence to positive airway pressure (PAP) and sleep health among older adult couples.

Methods: We conducted 3 focus group discussions with patients with obstructive sleep apnea/using PAP and their partners and 3 focus group discussions with sleep medicine providers.

A latent class approach to understanding longitudinal sleep health and the association with alcohol and cannabis use during late adolescence and emerging adulthood.

Objective: Sleep is a multi-dimensional health behavior associated with elevated risk of substance use. This is the first study to utilize a latent class approach to characterize sleep health across multiple dimensions and across time from late adolescence to emerging adulthood, and to examine associations with alcohol and cannabis use trajectories.

Methods: The sample included 2995 emerging adults (mean ages = 18 to 24 years across six waves of data collection; 54% female) who provided data on sleep dimensions (quality, duration, and social jetlag) and frequency and consequences of alcohol and cannabis use.

Sleep Management in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): A Systematic Review.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a condition that can emerge after exposure to a traumatic event. It involves several symptoms, including distressing memories or dreams and/or dissociative reactions; psychological distress at exposure to trauma cues; physiologic reactions to cues; avoidance of stimuli associated with the event; negative alterations in cognitions and mood associated with the trauma; and alterations in arousal and reactivity, including sleep disturbance. The purpose of this systematic review is to synthesize the evidence from randomized controlled trials on the effects that interventions for adults with PTSD have on sleep outcomes.

Job loss and psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic: Longitudinal Analysis from residents in nine predominantly African American low-income neighborhoods.

While psychological distress is a common sequelae of job loss, how that relationship continued during the COVID-19 pandemic is unclear, for example, given higher health risk to working due to disease exposure. This paper examines changes in psychological distress depending on job loss among a cohort of randomly selected residents living in nine predominantly African American low-income neighborhoods in Pittsburgh PA across four waves between 2013 and 2020. Between 2013 and 2016, we found an increase in psychological distress after job loss in line with the literature.