Search

Objective: To assess the cardiovascular risk profile of youths across socioeconomic groups in the U.S.Research Design and Methods: Analysis of 1999-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) including 16,085 nonpregnant 6- to 24-year-olds to estimate race/ethnicity-adjusted prevalence of obesity, central obesity, sedentary behaviors, tobacco exposure, elevated systolic blood pressure, glycated hemoglobin, non-HDL cholesterol (non-HDL-C), and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein according to age-group, sex, and poverty-income ratio (PIR) tertiles.Results: Among boys aged 6-11 years, 19.9% in the lowest PIR tertile were obese and 30.0% were centrally obese compared with 13.2 and 21.6%, respectively, in the highest-income tertile households (P(obesity) < 0.05 and P(central obesity) < 0.01). Boys aged 12-17 years in lowest-income households were more likely than their wealthiest family peers to be obese (20.6 vs. 15.6%, P < 0.05), sedentary (14.8 vs. 9.3%, P < 0.05), and exposed to tobacco (19.0 vs. 6.5%, P < 0.01). Compared with girls aged 12-17 years in highest-income households, lowest-income household girls had higher prevalence of obesity (17.9 vs. 13.1%, P < 0.05), central obesity (41.5 vs. 29.2%, P < 0.01), sedentary behaviors (20.4 vs. 9.4%, P < 0.01), and tobacco exposure (14.1 vs. 5.9%, P < 0.01). Apart from higher prevalence of elevated non-HDL-C among low-income women aged 18-24 years (23.4 vs. 15.8%, P < 0.05), no other cardiovascular disease risk factor prevalence differences were observed between lowest- and highest-income background young adults.Conclusions: Independent of race/ethnicity, 6- to 17-year-olds from low-income families have higher prevalence of obesity, central obesity, sedentary behavior, and tobacco exposure. Multifaceted cardiovascular health promotion policies are needed to reduce health disparities between income groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Both emotional support and negative interaction with family members have been linked to mental health. However, few studies have examined the associations between emotional support and negative interaction and psychiatric disorders in late life. This study investigated the relationship between emotional support and negative interaction on lifetime prevalence of mood and anxiety disorders among older African Americans.Design: The analyses utilized the National Survey of American Life.Methods: Logistic regression and negative binomial regression analyses were used to examine the effect of emotional support and negative interaction with family members on the prevalence of lifetime DSM-IV mood and anxiety disorders.Participants: Data from 786 African Americans aged 55 years and older were used.Measurement: The DSM-IV World Mental Health Composite International Diagnostic Interview (WMH-CIDI) was used to assess mental disorders. Three dependent variables were investigated: the prevalence of lifetime mood disorders, the prevalence of lifetime anxiety.Results: Multivariate analysis found that emotional support was not associated with any of the three dependent variables. Negative interaction was significantly and positively associated with the odds of having a lifetime mood disorder, a lifetime anxiety disorder and the number of lifetime mood and anxiety disorders.Conclusions: This is the first study to investigate the relationships among emotional support, negative interaction with family members and psychiatric disorders among older African Americans. Negative interaction was a risk factor for mood and anxiety disorders among older African Americans, whereas emotional support was not significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors used data from the older African American subsample of the National Survey of American Life (n = 837) to examine the sociodemographic and denominational correlates of organizational religious involvement among older African Americans. Six measures of organizational religious participation were used, including two measures of time allocation for organized religious pursuits. Significant gender, regional, marital status, and denominational differences in organizational religiosity were found. Of particular note, although older Black women generally displayed higher levels of religious participation, older Black men spent more hours per week in other activities at their places of worship. The findings are discussed in relation to prior work in the area of religious involvement among older adults. New directions for research on religious time allocation are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]