scholarly journals Chronic Stress-Related Neural Activity Associates With Subclinical Cardiovascular Disease in a Community-Based Cohort: Data From the Washington, D.C. Cardiovascular Health and Needs Assessment

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiffany M. Powell-Wiley ◽  
Amit K. Dey ◽  
Joshua P. Rivers ◽  
Abhishek Chaturvedi ◽  
Marcus R. Andrews ◽  
...  

Background: Psychosocial stress correlates with cardiovascular (CV) events; however, associations between physiologic measures of stressors and CVD remain incompletely understood, especially in racial/ethnic minority populations in resource-limited neighborhoods. We examined associations between chronic stress-related neural activity, measured by amygdalar 18Fluorodeoxyglucose (18FDG) uptake, and aortic vascular FDG uptake (arterial inflammation measure) in a community-based cohort.Methods: Forty participants from the Washington, DC CV Health and Needs Assessment (DC-CHNA), a study of a predominantly African-American population in resource-limited urban areas and 25 healthy volunteers underwent detailed phenotyping, including 18FDG PET/CT for assessing amygdalar activity (AmygA), vascular FDG uptake, and hematopoietic (leukopoietic) tissue activity. Mediation analysis was used to test whether the link between AmygA and vascular FDG uptake was mediated by hematopoietic activity.Results: AmygA (1.11 ± 0.09 vs. 1.05 ± 0.09, p = 0.004) and vascular FDG uptake (1.63 ± 0.22 vs. 1.55 ± 0.17, p = 0.05) were greater in the DC-CHNA cohort compared to volunteers. Within the DC-CHNA cohort, AmygA associated with vascular FDG uptake after adjustment for Framingham score and body mass index (β = 0.41, p = 0.015). The AmygA and aortic vascular FDG uptake relationship was in part mediated by splenic (20.2%) and bone marrow (11.8%) activity.Conclusions: AmygA, or chronic stress-related neural activity, associates with subclinical CVD risk in a community-based cohort. This may in part be mediated by the hematopoietic system. Our findings of this hypothesis-generating study are suggestive of a potential relationship between chronic stress-related neural activity and subclinical CVD in an African American community-based population. Taken together, these findings suggest a potential mechanism by which chronic psychosocial stress, such as stressors that can be experienced in adverse social conditions, promotes greater cardiovascular risk amongst resource-limited, community-based populations most impacted by cardiovascular health disparities. However, larger prospective studies examining these findings in other racially and ethnically diverse populations are necessary to confirm and extend these findings.

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felecia Arlene Lee ◽  
Rhonda Lewis-Moss ◽  
Jamilia Sly ◽  
Shani Roberts

2021 ◽  
pp. 002076402110127
Author(s):  
Sandra Yaklin ◽  
Miyong Kim ◽  
Jacklyn Hecht

Using a narrative approach, this study explored how African American men became mental health advocates. This ancillary study is part of a formative within an ongoing community based intervention program that was designed to promote mental health of African Americans (AMEN) project within an ongoing community based intervention program that was designed to promote mental health of African Americans (AMEN) project. Narrative research techniques were used to analyze and synthesize the data. Analysis generated one major theme (interdependence) with four supporting sub-themes (credibility, social depression, stigma, and calling). These findings and insights through this qualitative study guided the AMEN project team to formulate effective communication strategies in establishing working relationships with community partners and wider stakeholders as well as crafting culturally tailored messages for African American participants.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 215013272110298
Author(s):  
Susan M. Devaraj ◽  
Bonny Rockette-Wagner ◽  
Rachel G. Miller ◽  
Vincent C. Arena ◽  
Jenna M. Napoleone ◽  
...  

Introduction The American Heart Association created “Life’s Simple Seven” metrics to estimate progress toward improving US cardiovascular health in a standardized manner. Given the widespread use of federally funded Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP)-based lifestyle interventions such as the Group Lifestyle Balance (DPP-GLB), evaluation of change in health metrics within such a program is of national interest. This study examined change in cardiovascular health metric scores during the course of a yearlong DPP-GLB intervention. Methods Data were combined from 2 similar randomized trials offering a community based DPP-GLB lifestyle intervention to overweight/obese individuals with prediabetes and/or metabolic syndrome. Pre/post lifestyle intervention participation changes in 5 of the 7 cardiovascular health metrics were examined at 6 and 12 months (BMI, blood pressure, total cholesterol, fasting plasma glucose, physical activity). Smoking was rare and diet was not measured. Results Among 305 participants with complete data (81.8% of 373 eligible adults), significant improvements were demonstrated in all 5 risk factors measured continuously at 6 and 12 months. There were significant positive shifts in the “ideal” and “total” metric scores at both time points. Also noted were beneficial shifts in the proportion of participants across categories for BMI, activity, and blood pressure. Conclusion AHA-metrics could have clinical utility in estimating an individual’s cardiovascular health status and in capturing improvement in cardiometabolic/behavioral risk factors resulting from participation in a community-based translation of the DPP lifestyle intervention.


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