Perceived discrimination has been associated with psychosocial distress and adverse health outcomes. We examined associations of perceived discrimination measures with changes in kidney function in a prospective cohort study, the Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the LifeSpan. Our study included 1,620 participants with preserved baseline kidney function (estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) 60 ml/min/1.73m) (662 Whites and 958 African-Americans (AA), aged 30-64 years). Self-reported perceived racial discrimination (PRD) and perceived gender discrimination (PGD) and a general measure of experience of discrimination (EOD) Medium vs. low, High vs. low were examined in relation to baseline, follow-up and annual rate of change in eGFR using multiple mixed-effects regression (gammabase, gammarate) and OLS models (gammafollow). Perceived gender discrimination High vs. Low PGD was associated with a lower baseline eGFR in all models (gammabase=-3.51(1.34), p=0.009 for total sample). Among White women, High EOD was associated with lower baseline eGFR, an effect that was strengthened in the full model (gammabase=-5.86(2.52), p=0.020). Overall, High vs. Low PGD was associated with lower follow-up eGFR (gammafollow=-3.03(1.45), p=0.036). Among AA women, both PRD and PGD were linked to lower follow-up kidney function, an effect that was attenuated with covariate adjustment, indicating mediation through health-related, psychosocial and lifestyle factors. In contrast, EOD was not linked to follow-up eGFR in any of the sex by race groups. Perceived racial and gender discrimination are associated with poor kidney function assessed by glomerular filtration rate and the strength of associations differ by sex and race groups. Perceived discrimination deserves further investigation in psychsocial risk factors for kidney disease. Stress affects health-related quality of life through several pathways, including physiological processes and health behaviors. There is always a relationship between stress (the stimulus) and coping (the response). The relationship between snacking and snackers' diet quality and stress coping is a topic overlooked in research. The study was primarily designed to determine whether energy provided by snacks and diet quality were associated with coping behaviors to manage stress. We analyzed a baseline cohort of the Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span study (2004 to 2009). The sample was composed of 2,177 socioeconomically diverse African-American and white adults who resided in Baltimore, MD. Energy from snacks was calculated from 2 days of 24-hour dietary recalls collected using the US Department of Agriculture's Automated Multiple Pass Method. Snack occasions were self-reported as distinct eating occasions. Diet quality was evaluated by the Healthy Eating Index-2010. Multiple regression analyses were used to determine whether coping factors were associated with either energy provided by snacks or Healthy Eating Index-2010, adjusting for age, sex, race, socioeconomic status, education, literacy, and perceived stress. Coping was measured by the Brief COPE Inventory with instrument variables categorized into three factors: problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, and use of support. Perceived stress was measured with the 4-item Perceived Stress Scale. Adjusting for perceived stress and selected demographic characteristics, emotion-focused coping strategies were associated with greater energy intakes from snacks (P=0.020), and use of coping strategies involving support was positively associated with better diet quality (P=0.009). Energy contributed by snacks and diet quality were affected by the strategy that an individual used to cope with stress. The findings suggest that health professionals working with individuals seeking guidance to modify their eating practices should assess a person's coping strategies to manage stress. We also examined sex- and age-specific relationships of sleep behaviors with all-cause mortality rates. A retrospective cohort study was conducted among 5288 adults (50 years) from the 2005-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys who were followed-up for 54.91.2 months. Sleep duration was categorized as <7 h, 7-8 h and >8 h. Two sleep quality indices were generated through factor analyses. 'Help-seeking behavior for sleep problems' and 'diagnosis with sleep disorders' were defined as yes/no questions. Sociodemographic covariates-adjusted Cox regression models were applied to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). A positive relationship was observed between long sleep and all-cause mortality rate in the overall sample (HR = 1.90, 95% CI: 1.38, 2.60), among males (HR = 1.48, 95% CI: 1.05, 2.09), females (HR = 2.32, 95% CI: 1.48, 3.61) and elderly (65 years) people (HR = 1.80, 95% CI: 1.30, 2.50). 'Sleepiness/sleep disturbance' (Factor I) and all-cause mortality rate were positively associated among males (HR = 1.22, 95% CI: 1.03, 1.45), whereas 'poor sleep-related daytime dysfunction' (Factor II) and all-cause mortality (HR = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.62, 0.91) were negatively associated among elderly people. Sex- and age-specific relationships were observed between all-cause mortality rate and specific sleep behaviors among older adults.
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