Multilevel Risk Factors for Sleep-Disordered Breathing-Related Symptom Burden in an Urban Pediatric Community-Based Sample.

BACKGROUND: Pediatric sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) disproportionately affects children with low socioeconomic status (SES). The multilevel risk factors that drive these associations are not well understood. RESEARCH QUESTION: What are the associations between SDB risk factors, including individual health conditions (obesity, asthma, and allergies), household SES (maternal education), indoor exposures (environmental tobacco smoke [ETS] and pests), and neighborhood characteristics (neighborhood disadvantage), and pediatric SDB symptoms? STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Cross-sectional analyses were performed on 303 children (aged 6-12 years) enrolled in the Environmental Assessment of Sleep Youth study from 2018 to 2022. Exposures were determined by caregiver reports, assays of measured settled dust from the child's bedroom, and neighborhood-level Census data (deriving the Childhood Opportunity Index to characterize neighborhood disadvantage). The primary outcome was the SDB-related symptom burden assessed by the OSA-18 questionnaire total score. Using linear regression models, we calculated associations between exposures and SDB-related symptom burden, adjusting for sociodemographic factors, then health conditions, indoor environment, and neighborhood factors. RESULTS: The sample included 303 children (39% Hispanic, Latino, Latina, or Spanish origin; 30% Black or African American; 22% White; and 11% other). Increasing OSA-18 total scores were associated with low household SES after adjustment for demographic factors, and with asthma, allergies, ETS, pests (mouse, cockroach, and rodents), and an indoor environmental index (sum of the presence of pests and ETS; 0-2) after adjusting for sociodemographic factors. Even after further adjusting for asthma, allergies, and neighborhood disadvantage, ETS and pest exposure were associated with OSA-18 (ETS: ß = 12.80; 95% CI, 7.07-18.53, also adjusted for pest; pest exposure: ß = 3.69; 95% CI, 0.44-6.94, also adjusted for ETS). INTERPRETATION: In addition to associations with ETS, a novel association was observed for indoor pest exposure and SDB symptom burden. Strategies to reduce household exposure to ETS and indoor allergens should be tested as approaches for reducing sleep health disparities.

Circulating growth factors and cardiac remodeling in the community: The Framingham Heart Study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Cardiac and vascular growth factors (GF) may influence myocardial remodeling through cardiac growth and angiogenic effects. We hypothesized that concentrations of circulating GF are associated with cardiac remodeling traits. METHODS: We related blood concentrations of vascular endothelial GF (VEGF), VEGFR-1 (sFlt1), angiopoietin 2 (Ang-2), soluble angiopoietin type-2 receptor (sTie2), hepatocyte GF (HGF), insulin-like GF (IGF)-1, IGF binding protein (IGFBP)-3, and growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) to echocardiographic traits in 3151 Framingham Study participants (mean age 40 years, 55% women). We evaluated the following measures: left ventricular (LV) mass index (LVMi), LV ejection fraction (LVEF), global longitudinal strain (GLS), mitral E/e', and aortic root diameter (AoR). All biomarker values were sex-standardized. RESULTS: In multivariable-adjusted analyses, higher GDF-15 concentrations were associated with higher log-LVMi (ß = 0.009 per SD, P = 0.01). Similarly, sTie2 concentrations were positively associated with log-E/e' (ß = 0.011 per SD, P = 0.04). IGF-1 and Ang-2 concentrations were positively and negatively associated with GLS, respectively (ßIGF-1 = 0.16 per SD and ßAng-2 = -0.15 per SD, both P < 0.05), whereas higher sFlt1 and Ang-2 levels were associated with smaller log-AoR (ßsFlt1 = -0.004 per SD and ß Ang-2 = -0.005 per SD, respectively; P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: In our large community-based sample, we observed patterns of associations between several circulating vascular GF and cardiac remodeling indices that are consistent with the known biological effects of these pro- and anti-angiogenic factors on the myocardium and conduit arteries. Additional studies are warranted to replicate our findings and assess their prognostic significance.

Mediterranean diet pattern and sleep duration and insomnia symptoms in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.

Sleep duration and sleep quality are important predictors of risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). One potential link between sleep health and CVD is through lifestyle factors such as diet. To clarify the association between diet and sleep, we assessed the associations of sleep duration and insomnia symptoms with current Mediterranean-style diet (aMed) and with historical changes in aMed score. Actigraphy-measured sleep duration and self-reported insomnia symptoms categorized as insomnia with short sleep (<6 hr/night), insomnia without short sleep, no insomnia with short sleep, and no insomnia or short sleep were obtained from 2068 individuals who also had dietary intake data. A 10-point aMed score, derived from a self-report food frequency questionnaire, was collected concurrently with the sleep assessment and 10 years before. Compared with individuals who currently reported a low aMed score, those with a moderate-high aMed score were more likely to sleep 6-7 vs. <6 hr/night (p < 0.01) and less likely to report insomnia symptoms occurring with short sleep (vs. no insomnia or short sleep alone; p < 0.05). An increase in aMed score over the preceding 10 years was not associated with sleep duration or insomnia symptoms. However, compared with those with decreasing aMed score, individuals with an unchanging score reported fewer insomnia symptoms (p ≤ 0.01). These results suggest that a Mediterranean-style diet is associated with adequate sleep duration, less insomnia symptoms, and less likely to have insomnia accompanied by short sleep. Further research should identify possible mediators through which diet may promote adequate sleep duration and reduce the risk of insomnia.

Educational Inequalities in Cardiovascular Risk Factor and Blood Pressure Control in the Elderly: Comparison of MESA Cohort and Chilean NHS Survey Outcome Measures.

BACKGROUND: Social determinants differ between countries, which is not always considered when adapting health policies and interventions to face inequalities in noncommunicable diseases and their risk factors. OBJECTIVES: The study sought to analyze educational inequalities in controlled blood pressure (CBP), obesity, and smoking in study populations from Chile and the United States in 2 periods, both countries with large social inequalities. METHODS: The study used data from the first and fifth waves of the MESA (Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis) cohort, and the 2003 and 2009 to 2010 Chilean National Health Survey (CNHS) survey outcome measures. The study compared cardiovascular risk factors prevalence as well as relative index of inequality (RII) and slope index of inequality (SII) between the 2 samples. RESULTS: In the CNHS 67.9% and 52.6% of participants had below primary education in 2003 and 2009 to 2010, respectively, compared with 12.3% and 8.1% in the first and fifth waves of the MESA study, respectively. Smoking prevalence was higher and increased in the CNHS compared with the MESA study, concentrated in better-educated women in both years (RII: 0.34; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.17 to 0.68; and RII: 0.55; 95% CI: 0.34 to 0.89, respectively). In contrast, smoking decreased over time in the MESA study in all socioeconomic strata, although relative inequalities increased in both sexes (for women, RII: 2.32; 95% CI 1.36 to 3.97; for men, RII: 3.34; 95% CI 2.04 to 5.47). CBP prevalence in both periods was higher in the first and fifth waves of the MESA study (69.7% and 80.2%) compared with the 2003 and 2009 to 2010 CNHS samples (34.2% and 52.3%), but only for the MESA study RII, favoring the better educated, was it significant in both periods and sexes. Obesity inequalities for Chilean women decreased slightly between 2003 and 2009 as prevalence grew in the most educated (RII: 2.21 to 1.68; SII: 0.29 to 0.22, respectively); conversely, they increased for both sexes in the MESA study. CONCLUSIONS: The study findings confirm that patterns and trends in prevalence, and absolute and relative inequalities vary by country, suggesting that context and cultural issues matters.

Associations of socioeconomic and psychosocial factors with urinary measures of cortisol and catecholamines in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA).

BACKGROUND: Stress hormones have been hypothesized to contribute to the social patterning of cardiovascular disease but evidence of differences in hormone levels across social groups is scant. PURPOSE: To examine the associations of socioeconomic and psychosocial factors with urinary levels of cortisol and catecholamines and determine whether these associations are modified by race/ethnicity. METHODS: Measures of cortisol, epinephrine, norepinephrine and dopamine were obtained on 12-h overnight urine specimens from 942 White, African American and Hispanic participants in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Linear regression was used to examine associations of income-wealth index, education, depression, anger, anxiety and chronic stress with the four hormones after adjustment for covariates. RESULTS: Higher income-wealth index was associated with lower levels of urinary cortisol, epinephrine, norepinephrine and dopamine, after adjustment for age, sex, race/ethnicity, medication use, body mass index, smoking, and alcohol use. Education and psychosocial factors were not associated with urinary stress hormone levels in the full sample. However, there was some evidence of effect modification by race: SES factors were more strongly inversely associated with cortisol in African Americans than in other groups and anger was inversely associated with catecholamines in African Americans but not in the other groups. CONCLUSIONS: Lower SES as measured by income-wealth index in a multi-ethnic sample is associated with higher levels of urinary cortisol and catecholamines. Heterogeneity in these associations by race/ethnicity warrants further exploration.