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Mental health disorders have become a global problem, garnering considerable attention. However, the root causes of deteriorating mental health remain poorly understood, with existing literature predominantly concentrating on socioeconomic conditions and psychological factors. This study uses multi‐linear and geographically weighted regressions (GWR) to examine the associations between built and natural environmental attributes and the prevalence of depression in US counties. The findings reveal that job sprawl and land mixed use are highly correlated with a lower risk of depression. Additionally, the presence of green spaces, especially in urban area, is associated with improved mental health. Conversely, higher concentrations of air pollutants, such as PM2.5 and CO, along with increased precipitation, are linked to elevated depression rates. When considering spatial correlation through GWR, the impact of population density and social capital on mental health displays substantial spatial heterogeneity. Further analysis, focused on two high depression risk clustering regions (northwestern and southeastern counties), reveals nuanced determinants. In northwestern counties, depression rates are more influenced by factors like precipitation and socioeconomic conditions, including unemployment and income segregation. In southeastern counties, population demographic characteristics, particularly racial composition, are associated with high depression prevalence, followed by built environment factors. Interestingly, job growth and crime rates only emerge as significant factors in the context of high depression risks in southeastern counties. This study underscores the robust linkages and spatial variations between built and natural environments and mental health, emphasizing the need for effective depression treatment to incorporate these multifaceted factors. Plain Language Summary: This study examines the associations between built and natural environmental attributes and the prevalence of depression in US counties. The findings reveal that greater job sprawl and land mixed use are associated with lower depression prevalence. Additionally, the presence of green spaces in urban area is associated with reduced depression prevalence. Conversely, higher concentrations of air pollutants, such as PM2.5 and CO, along with increased precipitation, are linked to elevated depression rates. Associations between population density and social capital with depression prevalence display substantial spatial heterogeneity. Further analysis, focused on two high depression risk clustering regions (northwestern and southeastern counties), reveals region‐specific determinants. Key Points: Job sprawl, land mixed use, and green space associate with lower depression risk; the roles of air pollution and precipitation are oppositeAssociation of population density and social capital with depression prevalence exhibit significant spatial diversityPrecipitation and socioeconomic status mainly affect northwestern counties; population demographics plays key role in southeastern counties [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To describe blood pressure and glycemic control by racial/ethnic group in the US Community Health Center (CHC) patient population, and whether center characteristics, proxying for higher resource levels and better quality of care, were associated with greater rates of controlled cardiometabolic conditions. Methods: Data came from the Uniform Data System, representing aggregate patient clinical data for individual health centers in 2019. Descriptive analyses were conducted weighting by health center patient populations to produce race-specific national rates of blood pressure and glycemic control, and linear regression is used to test whether cardiometabolic control rates varied by center characteristics. Results: Hypertension was controlled for 67.2% of non-Hispanic White, 66.9% of Hispanic, and 56.7% of non-Hispanic Black patients. Diabetes was controlled for 70.7% of non-Hispanic White, 65.7% of Hispanic, and 66.1% of non-Hispanic Black patients. The rate of blood pressure control was 2.54 to 3.99 percentage points higher across racial/ethnic groups in health centers that adopted a patient-centered medical home (PCMH) model of care relative to non-PCMH centers, while glycemic control was 1.08 to 2.27 pp. higher as a function of PCMH certification. Results for other center characteristics did not show consistent patterns across racial groups or outcomes. Conclusion: This study documented racial and ethnic health disparities in the CHC patient population after major expansion of the CHC program. CHCs with PCMH certification have improved clinical outcomes among patients with hypertension and diabetes across racial/ethnic groups relative to centers without this certification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of early life adversity (ELA) in the development of health disparities has not received adequate attention. The current study examined differential exposure and differential vulnerability to ELA as explanations for socioeconomic and racial disparities in body mass index (BMI). Data were derived from a sample of 150 college students (M.sub.age = 18.8, SD = 1.0; 45 % African American; 55 % European American) who reported on parents' education and income as well as on exposure to 21 early adverse experiences. Body measurements were directly assessed to determine BMI. In adjusted models, African American students had higher BMI than European Americans. Similarly, background socioeconomic status was inversely associated with BMI. Significant mediation of group disparities through the pathway of ELA was detected, attenuating disparities by approximately 40 %. Furthermore, ELA was more strongly associated with BMI for African Americans than for European Americans. Efforts to achieve health equity may need to more fully consider early adversity., Author(s): David S. Curtis[sup.1] , Thomas E. Fuller-Rowell[sup.1] , Stacey N. Doan[sup.2] , Aleksandra E. Zgierska[sup.3] , Carol D. Ryff[sup.4] Author Affiliations: (1) Department of Human Development and Family Studies, [...]

The COVID-19 pandemic may have altered visitation patterns to parks, with potential effects on human health. Little is known about park use early in the pandemic, how park availability influenced use, and whether park visits accelerated COVID-19 spread. Using weekly cell phone location data for 620 U.S. counties, we show park visits decreased by an average 26% between March 15 and May 9, 2020. Net of weekly trends, park visits were 2.2% lower when stay-at-home orders were in effect, yet increased by 8.4% with school closures and 4.4% with business closures. Park visits decreased less during the pandemic in counties where park availability was high. Levels of park visits were not associated with COVID-19 growth rate or incidence in the following weeks. Thus, parks served as recreation and leisure outlets when schools and businesses closed, especially where parks were more available, with no evidence of park use increasing COVID-19 spread. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern slavery is a complex global health problem that includes forced labor exploitation. An ecological systems perspective is needed to understand how contextual upstream and midstream factors contribute to labor exploitation, and how disruptive societal challenges, such as infectious disease pandemics, may exacerbate established pathways leading to exploitation. Accumulation of familial and societal risk factors likely heightens vulnerability; for instance, economic precarity for an individual interacts with poor livelihood options and lack of social welfare supports increasing their likelihood of accepting exploitative labor. However, few frameworks exist that account for the accumulation of and interdependence between risk factors at different levels and across contexts. Using an ecological systems framework, we review literature on the pathways leading to labor exploitation, with the aim of developing a conceptual model grounded in existing research. Next, we discuss how pathways in this conceptual model are likely exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This conceptual model can guide future research to detect modifiable factors and strategic points of intervention. A critical review of research articles and gray literature was performed with a primary focus on sub-Saharan Africa. The review utilized various scholarly databases to identify perspectives from multiple disciplines and to more fully account for complex processes linked to labor exploitation. A conceptual model of these pathways was developed that emphasizes established determinants and risk factors for labor exploitation in sub-Saharan Africa. The model highlights how the COVID-19 pandemic may have exacerbated these pathways. Future studies should carefully examine the direct and indirect pathways, accumulation of and interactions between factors, and specific external and personal stressors. Interdisciplinary research on multilevel interventions is needed to guide solutions to prevent the persistent problem of labor exploitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Racial disparities in cardiovascular disease mortality in the United States remain substantial. However, the childhood roots of these disparities are not well understood. In the current study, we examined racial differences in blood pressure trajectories across early childhood in a sample of African-American and European-American low-birth-weight preterm infants. Family and neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES), measured at baseline, were also examined as explanations for subsequent group disparities. Analyses focused on 407 African-American and 264 European-American children who participated in the Infant Health and Development Program, a US longitudinal study of preterm children born in 1985. Blood pressure was assessed on 6 occasions between the ages of 24 and 78 months, in 1987-1992. Across this age range, the average rate of change in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure was greater among African-American children than among European-American children. Neighborhood SES explained 29% and 24% of the racial difference in the average rate of change in systolic and diastolic blood pressure, respectively, whereas family SES did not account for group differences. The findings show that racial differences in blood pressure among preterm children emerge in early childhood and that neighborhood SES accounts for a portion of racial disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Approximately half of the disparity in premature mortality between African American (AA) and European American (EA) adults is due to greater hypertension, diabetes, and stroke risk. The current study tests sleep as a mediator of racial disparities in cardiometabolic (CMB) disease risk in adulthood. Methods: A total of 618 CARDIA Study members took part in a sleep sub-study (2003-2005) and had measured CMB risk (2000-2011; mean age at baseline=40.1; 43.5% AA; 56.5% EA; 42.1% male). Sleep efficiency (% of time in bed asleep) and total sleep time were assessed via actigraphy for six total nights in years 17 and 18 of the CARDIA Study. CMB risk was assessed in years 15 and 25 from borderline high (coded as 1) and high (coded as 2) levels in seven markers using recommended cutpoints from NCEP ATP III and AHA: blood pressure, glucose, insulin resistance, waist circumference, triglycerides, HDL-C, and C-reactive protein. Scores were averaged across markers, ranging from 0 to 2 (a score of 1 indicates a borderline high average in the seven markers). Using linear path models, sleep variables were tested as mediators of racial disparities in ten-year changes in CMB risk. Results: AAs obtained less efficient sleep and less total sleep than EAs (76.5% vs 84.3%; 5.63 hrs vs. 6.43 hrs), and AAs had higher CMB risk at both periods (Mean at Y15: .75 vs. .55; Y25: .94 vs. .67) (p's < .001). Mediation tests are shown in the Table. Race was indirectly associated with increasing CMB risk over the ten-year period via sleep efficiency, explaining 25% of the racial disparity. Racial disparities in CMB risk were attenuated by 24.5% when adjusting for sleep time, although the mediation test was not significant. After adjusting for education and household income, 18.1% of the race disparity in diverging CMB risk was explained by sleep efficiency and 20.8% by sleep time. Conclusions: Differences in sleep likely contribute to greater CMB risk among AAs as compared to EAs in adulthood. Sleep may be an important intervention point to reduce racial health disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]