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1. Association of white matter hyperintensities and clinical vascular burden with depressive symptoms in Black older adults

   https://doi.org/10.1002/gps.6052  

   Bogoian, Hannah R. ; Barber, Sarah J. ; Carter, Sierra E. ; Mingo, Chivon ; Rosano, Caterina ; Dotson, Vonetta M. ( January 2024 , International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry)

   Black older adults have a higher vascular burden compared to non‐Hispanic White (NHW) older adults, which may put them at risk for a form of depression known as vascular depression (VaDep). The literature examining VaDep in Black older adults is sparse. The current study addressed this important gap by examining whether vascular burden was associated with depressive symptoms in Black older adults.

   Participants included 113 Black older adults from the Healthy Brain Project, a substudy of the Health, Aging, and Body Composition Study. In multiple regression analyses, clinical vascular burden (sum of vascular conditions) and white matter hyperintensity (WMH) volume predicted depressive symptoms as measured by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, controlling for demographic variables. Follow‐up analyses compared the associations in the Black subsample and in 179 NHW older adults.

   Higher total WMH volume, but not clinically‐defined vascular burden, predicted higher concurrent depressive symptoms and higher average depressive symptoms over 4 years. Similar associations were found between uncinate fasciculus (UF) WMHs and concurrent depressive symptoms and between superior longitudinal fasciculus WMHs and average depressive symptoms. The association between depressive symptoms and UF WMH was stronger in Black compared to NHW individuals.

   This research is consistent with the VaDep hypothesis and extends it to Black older adults, a group that has historically been underrepresented in the literature. Results highlight WMH in the UF as particularly relevant to depressive symptoms in Black older adults and suggest this group may be particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of WMH.

    

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2. Associations between household income and disordered eating differ across sex and racial identity in a population‐based sample of adults

   https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.23948  

   Mikhail, Megan E. ; Ackerman, Lindsay S. ; Anaya, Carolina ; Culbert, Kristen M. ; Burt, S. Alexandra ; Klump, Kelly L. ( March 2023 , International Journal of Eating Disorders)

   Most research on socioeconomic status (SES) and eating disorders (EDs) has focused on young White women. Consequently, little is known regarding how SES may relate to EDs/disordered eating in older adults, men, or people with different racial identities. We examined whether associations between SES and EDs/disordered eating differed across age, sex, and racial identity in a large, population‐based sample spanning early‐to‐later adulthood.

   Analyses included 2797 women and 2781 men ages 18–65 (M_age = 37.41, SD = 7.38) from the population‐based Michigan State University Twin Registry. We first examined associations between SES and dimensional ED symptoms, binge eating (BE), and self‐reported ED diagnoses across age and sex in the full sample. We then examined the impact of racial identity on associations by conducting within‐ and between‐group analyses among Black and White participants.

   In the full sample, lower SES was associated with significantly greater odds of BE and lifetime EDs in men, but not women, across adulthood. The association between lower SES and greater BE risk was stronger for Black men than for White men, though significant in both groups. Conversely, Black women showed apositiveassociation between SES and dimensional ED symptoms that significantly differed from effects for Black men and White women.

   Associations between socioeconomic disadvantage and EDs/disordered eating may be particularly robust for men in adulthood, especially men with a marginalized racial identity. Oppositely, Black women may encounter social pressures and minority stress in higher SES environments that could contribute to somewhat heightened ED risk.

   Little is known regarding how associations between socioeconomic status (SES) and eating disorders (EDs) may differ across age/sex or racial identity. We found lower SES was associated with greater odds of a lifetime ED or binge eating in men only, with a particularly strong association between lower SES and binge eating for Black men. Results highlight the importance of examining how SES‐ED associations may differ across other aspects of identity.

    

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3. Different aspects of failing to recover from proactive semantic interference predicts rate of progression from amnestic mild cognitive impairment to dementia

   https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2024.1336008  

   Curiel_Cid, Rosie E ; Crocco, Elizabeth A ; Duara, Ranjan ; Vaillancourt, David ; Asken, Breton ; Armstrong, Melissa J ; Adjouadi, Malek ; Georgiou, Mike ; Marsiske, Michael ; Wang, Wei-in ; et al ( January 2024 , Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience)

   This study investigated the role of proactive semantic interference (frPSI) in predicting the progression of amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) to dementia, taking into account various cognitive and biological factors.

   The research involved 89 older adults with aMCI who underwent baseline assessments, including amyloid PET and MRI scans, and were followed longitudinally over a period ranging from 12 to 55 months (average 26.05 months).

   The findings revealed that more than 30% of the participants diagnosed with aMCI progressed to dementia during the observation period. Using Cox Proportional Hazards modeling and adjusting for demographic factors, global cognitive function, hippocampal volume, and amyloid positivity, two distinct aspects of frPSI were identified as significant predictors of a faster decline to dementia. These aspects were fewer correct responses on a frPSI trial and a higher number of semantic intrusion errors on the same trial, with 29.5% and 31.6 % increases in the likelihood of more rapid progression to dementia, respectively.

   These findings after adjustment for demographic and biological markers of Alzheimer’s Disease, suggest that assessing frPSI may offer valuable insights into the risk of dementia progression in individuals with aMCI.

    

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4. Family and household sources of poverty for Black, Hispanic, and White newborns

   https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12781  

   Rendall, Michael S. ; Weden, Margaret M. ; Brown, Joey ( June 2021 , Journal of Marriage and Family)

   To understand the importance of family and household structure, including cohabiting partners and nonkin adults, in explaining Black‐White versus Hispanic‐White newborn poverty disparities in the United States.

   The official poverty measure (OPM) has typically been used in scholarly studies of newborn and childhood poverty, but this measure excludes cohabitors' and nonkin household members' presence and income. Both are likely to have poverty‐preventing roles when a birth is nonmarital.

   A household poverty measure inclusive of all household members is compared to the OPM, using data on households of White, Black, and Hispanic newborns from the 2005–2017 American Community Survey (N = 342,048). Regression decompositions are used to investigate the roles of mother's education and partner and other coresident adult presence and resources.

   Lower maternal educational attainment explains most of the Hispanic‐White poverty disparity at birth. The prevalence and poverty‐alleviating effectiveness of cohabitation and living with other adults, however, is greater for Hispanic than for Black unmarried mothers, and is greater for foreign‐born than for US‐born Hispanics.

   Black mothers' lesser access to the resources of a partner or other adults in the year of the newborn's arrival is critical in producing a remarkably high Black‐White newborn poverty disparity. Official poverty obscures the greater benefits of cohabitation and living with other adults for newborns of Hispanic mothers overall, and of foreign‐born Hispanic mothers in particular.

    

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5. Racial and Ethnic Differences in Initiation of Menthol Tobacco Smoking and Subsequent Tobacco Use in the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study, Waves 1–4 (2013–2018)

   https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntad055  

   Yan, Xinyu ; Salloum, Ramzi G. ; Leong, Man-Chong ; Khalil, Georges E. ; Lee, Ji-Hyun ; Lou, Xiang-Yang ( April 2023 , Nicotine and Tobacco Research)

   Certain subpopulations in the United States are highly vulnerable to tobacco initiation and addiction, and elimination of disparities among those groups is crucial to reducing the burden of tobacco use.

   This study evaluated the racial and ethnic differences in smoking initiation of menthol flavored cigarettes and cigars among never-users, and in subsequent tobacco use among new users of menthol-flavored products, using longitudinal data from waves 1–4 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study. The outcomes of interest were new use of menthol-flavored products, and subsequent past 30-day and past 12-month cigarette and cigar smoking, irrespective of flavors, after initiation.

   The percentages of new users of menthol-flavored cigarettes and cigars at waves 2–4 were disproportionately higher in non-Hispanic black and Hispanic than in non-Hispanic white people. Adjusting for age and sex, black people who first used any menthol cigars had higher risk of past 30-day use of the same cigar category at the subsequent wave (adjusted risk ratio, aRR 1.48; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.11 to 1.96) and past 12 months (aRR 1.74; 95% CI 1.55 to 2.63) compared to non-Hispanic white smokers. Black people who first used menthol-flavored cigarettes had marginally higher risk of subsequent past 30-day cigarette use (aRR 1.44; 95% CI 0.99 to 2.10) compared with their non-Hispanic white counterparts.

   This study shows that racial and ethnic differences exist in both initiation of menthol-flavored tobacco products and product-specific subsequent use after first using menthol-flavored products; black and Hispanic people have higher rates of initiation; black people also have higher rates of subsequent use.

   Use of menthol flavors in tobacco products is confirmed to be a contributor to large disparities in tobacco use; black and Hispanic people are more likely to maintain smoking through use of mentholated products than non-Hispanic white people. The findings suggest educational and regulatory actions on menthol-flavored tobacco products including restricting the selective marketing to vulnerable communities and banning characterizing flavors in cigarettes and cigars may reduce tobacco-related disparities and inform the Food And Drug Administration’s evidence-based rulemaking process.

    

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