Heterogeneity of Childhood Asthma Among Hispanic Children: Puerto Rican Children Bear a Disproportionate Burden

Abstract Hispanic children in the United States are disproportionately affected by obesity. The role of acculturation in obesity is unclear. This study examined the relation between child obesity, dietary intake, and maternal acculturation in Hispanic children. We hypothesized that children of more acculturated mothers would consume more unhealthy foods and would have higher body mass index (BMI) percentiles. A total of 209 Hispanic mothers of children aged 2–4 y (50% female, 35.3 ± 8.7 mo, BMI percentile: 73.1 ± 27.8, 30% obese, 19% overweight) were recruited for an obesity prevention/reversal study. The associations between baseline maternal acculturation [Brief Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans-II (Brief ARSMA-II)], child BMI percentile, and child diet were examined. Factor analysis of the Brief ARSMA-II in Puerto Rican mothers resulted in 2 new factors, which were named the Hispanic Orientation Score (4 items, loadings: 0.64–0.81) and U.S. Mainland Orientation Score (6 items, loadings: −0.61–0.92). In the total sample, children who consumed more noncore foods were more likely to be overweight or obese (P < 0.01). Additionally, children of mothers with greater acculturation to the United States consumed more noncore foods (P < 0.0001) and had higher BMI percentiles (P < 0.04). However, mothers with greater Hispanic acculturation served fewer noncore foods (P < 0.0001). In the Puerto Rican subgroup of mothers, Puerto Rican mothers with greater acculturation to the United States served more noncore foods (P < 0.0001), but there was no association between acculturation and child BMI percentile in this subgroup. These mothers, however, served fewer sugar-sweetened beverages (P < 0.01) compared with non-Puerto Rican mothers, and this may have negated the effect of noncore food consumption on BMI percentile. These data suggest a complex relation between acculturation, noncore food consumption, and child BMI percentile in Puerto Rican and non-Puerto Rican Hispanic children.

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Expression quantitative trait methylation analysis reveals methylomic associations with gene expression in childhood asthma

10.1101/2020.02.13.937391 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Soyeon Kim ◽

Erick Forno ◽

Rong Zhang ◽

Qi Yan ◽

Nadia Boutaoui ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

Puerto Rican ◽

Childhood Asthma ◽

Quantitative Trait ◽

Target Genes ◽

Regulation Of Gene Expression ◽

Atopic Asthma ◽

Nasal Airway ◽

Airway Epithelial ◽

Methylation Analysis

AbstractNasal airway epithelial methylation profiles have been associated with asthma, but the effects of such profiles on expression of distant cis-genes are largely unknown. We identified 16,867 significant methylation-gene expression pairs in nasal epithelium from Puerto Rican children and adolescents (with and without asthma) in an expression quantitative trait methylation (eQTM) analysis of cis-genes located within 1 Mb of the methylation probes tested. Most eQTM methylation probes were distant from their target genes, and more likely located in enhancer regions of their target genes in lung tissue than control probes. The top 500 eQTM genes were enriched in pathways for immune processes and epithelial integrity, and also more likely to be differentially expressed in atopic asthma. Moreover, we identified 5,934 paths through which methylation probes could affect atopic asthma through gene expression. Our findings suggest that distant epigenetic regulation of gene expression in airway epithelium plays a role in atopic asthma.

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The Sociopsychiatry of Espiritismo: Findings of a Study in Psychiatric Populations of Puerto Rican and Other Hispanic Children

Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry ◽

10.1097/00004583-198102000-00005 ◽

1981 ◽

Vol 20 (4) ◽

pp. 725-740 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Hector R. Bird ◽

Ian Canino

Keyword(s):

Puerto Rican ◽

Hispanic Children

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Maternal Mental Health and Childhood Asthma among Puerto Rican Youth: The Role of Prenatal Smoking

Journal of Asthma ◽

10.1080/02770900903072051 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 46 (7) ◽

pp. 726-730 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Renee D. Goodwin ◽

Glorisa Canino ◽

Alexander N. Ortega ◽

Hector R. Bird

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Puerto Rican ◽

Childhood Asthma ◽

Maternal Mental Health ◽

Prenatal Smoking

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Rethinking Race/Ethnicity, Income, and Childhood Asthma: Racial/Ethnic Disparities Concentrated among the Very Poor

Public Health Reports ◽

10.1177/003335490512000203 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 120 (2) ◽

pp. 109-116 ◽

Cited By ~ 106

Author(s):

Lauren A. Smith ◽

Juliet L. Hatcher-Ross ◽

Richard Wertheimer ◽

Robert S. Kahn

Keyword(s):

Childhood Asthma ◽

Family Income ◽

Ethnic Disparities ◽

Black Children ◽

Hispanic Children ◽

Poverty Level ◽

White Children ◽

Race Ethnicity ◽

Racial Ethnic ◽

Hispanic White

Objective. Past studies of the prevalence of childhood asthma have yielded conflicting findings as to whether racial/ethnic disparities remain after other factors, such as income, are taken into account. The objective of this study was to examine the association of race/ethnicity and family income with the prevalence of childhood asthma and to assess whether racial/ethnic disparities vary by income strata. Methods. Cross-sectional data on 14,244 children aged <18 years old in the 1997 National Health Interview Survey were examined. The authors used logistic regression to analyze the independent and joint effects of race/ethnicity and income-to-federal poverty level (FPL) ratio, adjusting for demographic covariates. The main outcome measure was parental report of the child having ever been diagnosed with asthma. Results. Bivariate analyses, based on weighted percentages, revealed that asthma was more prevalent among non-Hispanic black children (13.6%) than among non-Hispanic white children (11.2%; p<0.01), but the prevalence of asthma did not differ significantly between Hispanic children (10.1 %) and non-Hispanic white children (11.2%; p=0.13). Overall, non-Hispanic black children were at higher risk for asthma than non-Hispanic white children (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 1.20; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.03, 1.40), after adjustment for sociodemographic variables, including the ratio of annual family income to the FPL. Asthma prevalence did not differ between Hispanic children and non-Hispanic white children in adjusted analyses (adjusted OR=0.85; 95% CI 0.71, 1.02). Analyses stratified by income revealed that only among children from families with incomes less than half the FPL did non-Hispanic black children have a higher risk of asthma than non-Hispanic white children (adjusted OR=1.99; 95% CI 1.09, 3.64). No black vs. white differences existed at other income levels. Subsequent analyses of these very poor children that took into account additional potentially explanatory variables did not attenuate the higher asthma risk for very poor non-Hispanic black children relative to very poor non-Hispanic white children. Conclusions. Non-Hispanic black children were at substantially higher risk of asthma than non-Hispanic white children only among the very poor. The concentration of racial/ethnic differences only among the very poor suggests that patterns of social and environmental exposures must overshadow any hypothetical genetic risk.

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