Associations between Poor Sleep Quality,Obesity, and the Anthropometric Measurements of Women in Turkey

Recent studies have shown that poor sleep quality is significantly associated with obesity. The aim of this study is to examine the association of sleep quality with obesity and specific anthropometric measurements. A total of 105 women aged 20–55 years with no chronic diseases participated in this study. They filled out the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), their anthropometric measurements were taken, and their dietary data were collected with a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). There was no significant relationship between sleep quality and BMI, waist circumference, triceps skinfold thicknesses, body fat ratio (%), and body fat mass (p > .05), but high bread consumption was significantly associated with poor sleep quality (p < .05). The women with poor sleep quality consumed significantly more bread, but not other foods, than the women with good sleep quality. Sleep quality can thus be related to eating habits.     

Associations of Diet Quality and Sleep Quality with Obesity

Short sleep duration or poor sleep quality has been associated with an increased risk of obesity. Although the underlying mechanism remains unclear, one proposed pathway is poor diet quality. This cross-sectional study investigated whether diet quality modifies the association between sleep status and obesity in Korean adults. We used the baseline data and samples of 737 men and 428 women (n = 1165) aged 19–64, who participated in the prospective Ewha–Boramae cohort study. Sleep duration was dichotomized into ≥7 h (adequate) and <7 h (insufficient). Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) values, reflecting sleep quality, were dichotomized into >5 (poor quality) and ≤5 (good quality). Diet quality was evaluated by the Recommended Food Score (RFS). Obesity was associated with higher rates of insufficient sleep and poor sleep quality in women, but not in men. After adjustment for covariates, women with poor sleep quality had a higher risk of obesity than women with good sleep quality (OR = 2.198; 95% CI = 1.027–4.704); this association occurred only in the group with RFS ≤ median score. Our findings support a significant association between sleep quality and obesity, and this association has been potentially modified by dietary quality in women.     

Dual-Malnutrition Burden in Lower Socioeconomic Status Women in Mumbai

ABSTRACT

Dual-malnutrition burden has increased across all SES groups. This study aimed to record the prevalence of underweight and overweight in low-socioeconomic status women. The study included 100 women selected by the snowball sampling technique. Their anthropometric measurements were recorded. BMI and WHR were calculated. Mean BMI and WHR of subjects were 23.56 ± 4.82 kg/m² and 0.82 ± 0.07 cm, respectively. In the lower-class, there were 18.2% underweight and 45.4% overweight/pre-obese subjects. In the upper-lower class. 49.3% subjects had WC≥80 cm and 42.3% subjects had WC≥80. Overweight/obesity was observed to over-power under-nutrition burden among the low-socioeconomic status subjects.     

The Longitudinal Association Between Poor Sleep Quality and Cyberbullying,Mediated by Anger

ABSTRACT

Adolescents tend to go to bed later and sleep less as they grow older, although their need for sleep stays the same throughout adolescence. Poor sleep has negative consequences on personal and interpersonal functioning, including increased aggressive tendencies. With adolescents’ social life increasingly including interactions via digital media, these interactions may also become more aggressive when adolescents’ sleep problems increase. One of the ways in which online aggression may be enacted is through cyberbullying. Although previous research has examined the role of sleep disruptions in offline bullying, the role of sleep in cyberbullying has not yet been addressed. Therefore, this study examines the longitudinal effect of poor sleep quality on later cyberbullying behavior. Thirteen- to fourteen-year-old adolescents completed self-report measures on sleep quality, anger, cyberbullying perpetration, and frequency of digital media use. Because one of the pathways through which sleep is proposed to be linked to aggression is an affective pathway, namely via angry affect, a mediation model of poor sleep quality predicting cyberbullying via feelings of anger was tested. Results from structural equation modeling and a bootstrap test indicated that poor sleep quality was indeed indirectly associated with later cyberbullying behavior through heightened feelings of anger, even when taking the effects of the use of digital media and previous cyberbullying behavior into account. This finding provides support for the proposed affective pathway linking sleep problems to aggression. As sleep problems and anger seem to play a predicting role in cyberbullying behavior, suggestions for cyberbullying intervention and prevention strategies are formulated.     

Understanding Associations Between Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status and Negative Consequences of Drinking: a Moderated Mediation Analysis

We explored how neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) is related to negative consequences of drinking to explain why racial/ethnic minority group members are more at risk than Whites for adverse alcohol outcomes. We tested direct and indirect effects of neighborhood SES on alcohol problems and examined differences by gender and race. We used data from the 2000 and 2005 National Alcohol Surveys (N?=?7912 drinkers aged 18 and older; 49 % female) linked with data from the 2000 Decennial Census in multivariate path models adjusting for individual demographics. In the full sample, neighborhood disadvantage had a significant direct path to increased negative consequences, with no indirect paths through depression, positive affect or pro-drinking attitudes. Neighborhood affluence had significant indirect paths to increased negative consequences through greater pro-drinking attitudes and increased heavy drinking. Subgroup analyses showed the indirect path from affluence to consequences held for White men, with no effects of neighborhood disadvantage. For racial/ethnic minority men, significant indirect paths emerged from both neighborhood disadvantage and affluence to increased consequences through greater pro-drinking attitudes and more heavy drinking. For minority women, there was an indirect effect of neighborhood affluence through reduced depression to fewer drinking consequences. There were limited neighborhood effects on alcohol outcomes for White women. Interventions targeting pro-drinking attitudes in both affluent and disadvantaged areas may help reduce alcohol-related problems among men. Initiatives to improve neighborhood conditions could enhance mental health of minority women and reduce alcohol-related health disparities.     

Associations Between Socioeconomic Status and Allostatic Load: Effects of Neighborhood Poverty and Tests of Mediating Pathways

Objectives. We examined relationships between neighborhood poverty and allostatic load in a low- to moderate-income multiracial urban community. We tested the hypothesis that neighborhood poverty is associated with allostatic load, controlling for household poverty. We also examined the hypotheses that this association was mediated by psychosocial stress and health-related behaviors.Methods. We conducted multilevel analyses using cross-sectional data from a probability sample survey in Detroit, Michigan (n = 919) and the 2000 US Census. The outcome measure was allostatic load. Independent variables included neighborhood and household poverty, psychosocial stress, and health-related behaviors. Covariates included neighborhood and individual demographic characteristics.Results. Neighborhood poverty was positively associated with allostatic load (P < .05), independent of household poverty and controlling for potential confounders. Relationships between neighborhood poverty were mediated by self-reported neighborhood environment stress but not by health-related behaviors.Conclusions. Neighborhood poverty is associated with wear and tear on physiological systems, and this relationship is mediated through psychosocial stress. These relationships are evident after accounting for household poverty levels. Efforts to promote health equity should focus on neighborhood poverty, associated stressful environmental conditions, and household poverty.A burgeoning literature has demonstrated relationships between socioeconomic status (SES) and a variety of health outcomes.1–7 The persistence of relationships between SES, assessed at individual or neighborhood levels, and health outcomes over time has led scholars to suggest that SES influences health through a broad range of behavioral and physiological mechanisms.8–10 Attention has increasingly turned to disentangling the pathways through which SES may influence health, including both individual and neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics. We have contributed to this literature by examining relationships between socioeconomic characteristics of residential neighborhoods and allostatic load, an indicator of cumulative physiological response to stress. We examined potential pathways linking neighborhood SES to allostatic load by testing the extent to which these relationships are mediated by perceived or self-reported indicators of psychosocial stress and by health-related behaviors.The conceptual model that guides this analysis builds on both conceptual and empirical research arguing that SES is a fundamental factor that influences health through multiple pathways,8,9,11,12 with cumulative health effects over the life course. Neighborhood poverty levels influence local social and physical environmental conditions (e.g., access to food, safe places for physical activity),12 which influence health-related behaviors (e.g., dietary practices, physical activity). Conditions in the social and physical environment may also influence health if they are conducive to stress and are referred to as stressors if they are likely to be perceived as harmful, threatening, or bothersome13 or as placing a demand on individuals that results in a physiological adaptational responses.14 Physiological responses are initiated as the body attempts to achieve stability (allostasis) when exposed to chronically stressful physical and social environments, for example, chronic challenges experienced as a result of poverty.15–23Physiological responses to stress can accumulate and result in overexposure to neural, endocrine, and immune stress mediators (allostatic load), leading to enduring negative health outcomes through effects on the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal cortex, sympathetic nervous system, and immune system, with subsequent implications for peripheral biology.16,20,24–31 Negative health outcomes include effects on systolic and diastolic blood pressure, which are associated with higher mortality rates, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and the loss of physical and cognitive functioning.32–35 Chronic exposures to stress also affect metabolic systems, with established implications for health, including higher total cholesterol, lower high-density lipoproteins, higher weight,30,36–39 and elevated glucose levels.30,40–43 These metabolic indicators have been associated with heightened risk of mortality, increased cardiovascular risk, and poorer cognitive functioning.30,32,44–46McEwen et al.29,30 conceptualized allostatic load as an indicator of the “cumulative physiological toll on multiple major biological systems over the life course”30^(p223) that results from exposure to stressful life circumstances. Substantial evidence suggests that cardiovascular and metabolic risk varies by individual- or household-level SES, and recent studies have specifically demonstrated an inverse socioeconomic gradient in allostatic load.30,47–49 A growing body of research1–7 also demonstrates relationships between neighborhood SES and a variety of health outcomes, independent of the effects of individual or household income. Merkin et al.50 tested whether associations between percentage of households below the poverty line at the census tract level and allostatic load differed by race/ethnicity, using a nationally representative sample of non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, and Mexican Americans (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey [NHANES] 1988–1994). They reported a significant inverse relationship between neighborhood SES and allostatic load among non-Hispanic Blacks, with similar but not significant trends among non-Hispanic Whites and Mexican Americans. Stimpson et al.,51 using data from NHANES III, found a positive association between a composite measure of neighborhood deprivation and serum triglyceride levels, 1 component of allostatic load.Building on this conceptual model and empirical literature, we examined 3 major research questions (Figure 1). First, we asked whether neighborhood poverty is associated with allostatic load among non-Hispanic Black, non-Hispanic White, and Hispanic residents of a major Midwestern urban community, independent of the effects of household income. Second, we tested specific pathways through which neighborhood poverty may contribute to allostatic load. Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that relationships between neighborhood poverty and allostatic load are mediated by self-reported psychosocial stress associated with neighborhood conditions. To examine the specificity of mediating effects, we tested the extent to which relationships between neighborhood poverty and allostatic load are mediated by indicators of psychosocial stress that reflect domains other than neighborhood environments, for example, experiences of unfair treatment.52,53 Third, because numerous health-related behaviors have been found to be associated with neighborhood poverty, including dietary patterns,54–56 smoking,57–59 physical activity,51,59–61 and alcohol use,51,62 and these behaviors may also be associated with components of allostatic load (e.g., blood pressure, lipid levels), we examined the extent to which relationships between neighborhood poverty and allostatic load are mediated by health-related behaviors.Open in a separate windowFIGURE 1—Hypothesized pathways mediating relationships between neighborhood poverty and allostatic load: Healthy Environments Partnership Community Survey, Detroit, MI, 2002–2003.     

The Association Between Socioeconomic Status and Cardiovascular Risk Factors Among Middle-Aged and Older Men and Women

Studies of gender differences in the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and cardiovascular risk factors have produced mixed findings. The purpose of this research was to examine whether the association between SES and cardiovascular risk factors differed between older men and women. Using data on physical measures and biomarkers from the 2006 Health and Retirement Study (N = 2,502 men; N = 3,474 women), linear regression models were used to estimate the association between SES and seven cardiovascular risk factors. Interactions between gender and SES were tested. For all seven risks assessed, we observed significant associations of selected SES factors to cardiovascular risk for men and/or women. In all of these cases, lower SES was associated with higher cardiovascular risk. However, for six of the factors, we also observed gender differences in the association between SES and cardiovascular risk, such that lower SES was associated with higher cardiovascular risk for women but not for men. These findings suggest that the association between SES and cardiovascular risk is more pronounced for women than for men. Implementing interventions to reduce cardiovascular risk factors, particularly among older women with lower SES, might, over time, reduce cardiovascular disease in women and improve quality of life.     

Average Associations Between Sexual Desire,Testosterone, and Stress in Women and Men Over Time

Sexual desire and testosterone are widely assumed to be directly and positively linked to each other despite the lack of supporting empirical evidence. The literature that does exist is mixed, which may result from a conflation of solitary and dyadic desire, and the exclusion of contextual variables, like stress, known to be relevant. Here, we use the Steroid/Peptide Theory of Social Bonds as a framework for examining how testosterone, solitary and partnered desire, and stress are linked over time. To do so, we collected saliva samples (for testosterone and cortisol) and measured desire as well as other variables via questionnaires over nine monthly sessions in 78 women and 79 men. Linear mixed models showed that testosterone negatively predicted partnered desire in women but not men. Stress moderated associations between testosterone and solitary desire in both women and men, but differently: At lower levels of stress, higher average testosterone corresponded to higher average solitary desire for men, but lower solitary desire on average for women. Similarly, for partnered desire, higher perceived stress predicted lower desire for women, but higher desire for men. We conclude by discussing the ways that these results both counter presumptions about testosterone and desire but fit with the existing literature and theory, and highlight the empirical importance of stress and gender norms.     

Self-rated Health in Middle-aged Women: Associations with Sense of Coherence and Socioeconomic and Health-related Factors

This study aimed to describe and analyse self-rated health in relation to sense of coherence and socioeconomic and health-related factors and to explore the associations between self-rated health and these factors in order to identify health resources and health limitations in a group of healthy middle-aged women. Healthy middle-aged women from a defined geographical area in Southern Sweden ( n =577) answered a postal survey with the sense of coherence scale and questions about socioeconomic and health-related conditions. The results showed that very good/rather good self-rated health was associated with high sense of coherence and good economic situation, and these factors can be seen as a health resource. Poor self-rated health was most strongly associated with perceived symptoms of tension, weak sense of coherence, treatment for depression, treatment for chronic disease, and difficult economic situation, and these factors can be seen as health limitations. In conclusion, only 29% of the women rated their health as very good and 41% of the women had symptoms of tension but they were not sick-listed. It is of major public health interest to improve the understanding of self-rated health and to develop health promotion for women and methods to prevent symptoms of tension and sick-listing.     

Self-rated Health in Middle-aged Women: Associations with Sense of Coherence and Socioeconomic and Health-related Factors

This study aimed to describe and analyse self-rated health in relation to sense of coherence and socioeconomic and health-related factors and to explore the associations between self-rated health and these factors in order to identify health resources and health limitations in a group of healthy middle-aged women. Healthy middle-aged women from a defined geographical area in Southern Sweden ( n =577) answered a postal survey with the sense of coherence scale and questions about socioeconomic and health-related conditions. The results showed that very good/rather good self-rated health was associated with high sense of coherence and good economic situation, and these factors can be seen as a health resource. Poor self-rated health was most strongly associated with perceived symptoms of tension, weak sense of coherence, treatment for depression, treatment for chronic disease, and difficult economic situation, and these factors can be seen as health limitations. In conclusion, only 29% of the women rated their health as very good and 41% of the women had symptoms of tension but they were not sick-listed. It is of major public health interest to improve the understanding of self-rated health and to develop health promotion for women and methods to prevent symptoms of tension and sick-listing.     

Socioeconomic Status and Diet Quality in College Students

ObjectiveTo investigate the existence and trajectory of diet disparities among college students from different socioeconomic statuses (SESs).MethodsA random sample of freshman and sophomore students was invited to participate in an online survey on eating behaviors. Ordinary least squares regressions were fit to 148 complete responses to examine the association between family income ≤200% of the federal poverty level and overall, healthy, and unhealthy food consumption.ResultsLow-SES students reported eating significantly more unhealthy food during their freshman year than their non–low-SES peers. This difference is not statistically significant for second-year students and robust to on-campus spending power.Conclusions and ImplicationsDisparities in diets for students from different socioeconomic backgrounds that were observed in the freshman year of college were absent in the sophomore year. Awareness of these disparities and trend is important to broadly promote healthy eating.     

The Timing of Obesity Matters: Associations Between Current Versus Chronic Obesity since Adolescence and Romantic Relationship Satisfaction Among Young Adult Women

BackgroundAlthough the social consequences of obesity for women are well-documented, its stigmatizing effect on romantic relationships across the life course has seldom been explored. We examined whether having current or chronic obesity since adolescence is associated with romantic relationship satisfaction among women in early adulthood.MethodsThis is a secondary analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Female participants completing waves I and IV who self-reported their height and weight and were in a marital or cohabitating relationship at wave IV were included. Relationship satisfaction was assessed using a seven-item measure. Body mass index BMI at wave IV was categorized as normal weight, overweight, obesity, or chronic obesity (at waves I and IV). The odds of reporting low relationship satisfaction were estimated across body mass index categories using multivariate regression that controlled for key covariates (age, race, ethnicity, education, income, lifetime partners, relationship duration, and depression) and accounted for the complex sampling design.ResultsAmong the 3,582 respondents, 74.8% were White, 65.5% had less than a college degree, and 61.8% were in their relationship for more than 3 years. At wave IV, 38.2% had a normal body mass index, 27.7% had overweight, 26.7% had obesity, and 7.5% had chronic obesity. Only having chronic obesity was associated with relationship satisfaction in early adulthood. Women with chronic obesity had 1.44 (95% confidence interval, 1.03–2.02) times the odds of reporting low relationship satisfaction compared with those categorized as normal weight.ConclusionsChronic obesity since adolescence is associated with poor romantic relationship satisfaction in early adulthood.     

Disentangling the Influence of Socioeconomic Status on Differences Between African American and White Women in Unmet Medical Needs

Objectives. We sought to disentangle the relationships between race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status (SES), and unmet medical care needs.Methods. Data from the 2003–2004 Community Tracking Study Household Survey were used to examine associations between unmet medical needs and SES among African American and White women.Results. No significant racial/ethnic differences in unmet medical needs (24.8% of Whites, 25.9% of African Americans; P = .59) were detected in bivariate analyses. However, among women with 12 years of education or less, African Americans were less likely than were Whites to report unmet needs (odds ratio [OR] = 0.57; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.42, 0.79). Relative to African American women with 12 years of education or less, the odds of unmet needs were 1.69 (95% CI = 1.24, 2.31) and 2.18 (95% CI = 1.25, 3.82) among African American women with 13 to 15 years of education and 16 years of education or more, respectively. In contrast, the relationship between educational level and unmet needs was nonsignificant among White women.Conclusions. Among African American women, the failure to recognize unmet medical needs is related to educational attainment and may be an important driver of health disparities, representing a fruitful area for future interventions.African Americans are more likely than Whites to have unmet medical care needs according to objective clinical standards such as burden of disease (e.g., higher rates of heart disease and cancer deaths), clinical symptoms of ill health, and preventable hospitalizations.^1,2 Unmet medical need, considered a critical indicator of lack of access to care, is also commonly assessed through subjective indices such as self-reported ability to obtain needed medical care or postponing of needed medical care.^3,4 Studies based on these subjective measures often reveal that African Americans report less need for medical care than Whites,^5–7 but this finding has not been consistent.^8–10 In any event, such a finding suggests that subjective measures capture personal perceptions of need for care rather than (or in addition to) true clinical need.^3,4,11Complex and poorly studied factors influence the link between true medical needs and perceived medical needs, especially among members of racial/ethnic minority groups. Theoretical and empirical research has underscored the limitations of subjective measures of medical need. Signs and symptoms of disease may be a better proxy for unmet medical needs among vulnerable populations.^1,11–14 For example, Cunningham and Hadley¹¹ recently showed that, among members of racial/ethnic minority groups, symptom-specific measures of unmet need were more accurate than general measures.In the United States, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status (SES), and health have been historically intertwined.¹⁵ SES (e.g., education, occupation, and income) accounts for a large portion of the health disparities observed between members of racial/ethnic minority groups and members of more advantaged groups.^15,16 Also, SES may partly account for differences in how illness severity and risk are perceived. Individuals of low SES, especially members of racial/ethnic minority groups, are more likely than individuals of high SES to underestimate illness severity and the need of medical care for serious conditions such as cancer, stroke, and obesity.^17–21 African Americans and all individuals with low incomes are more likely to underestimate their risk for heart attack, stroke, and cancer than are their counterparts and are less likely to use screening programs and seek appropriate care.^22,23 Thus, perceptions of medical need among members of racial/ethnic minority groups are strongly linked to SES.²⁴Although the literature clearly documents strong links between race/ethnicity, SES, and medical need, the overall picture is not clear. Nationally representative studies with detailed adjustment for SES among specific demographic populations are not available. More specifically, women are more likely than are men to delay or not obtain needed medical care,^25,26 and their unmet needs are more likely to result in mortality.²⁷ The relationship between SES and health may be critically shaped by gender.²⁸ For example, lower SES is associated with poorer health, and, in general, women have lower levels of education than men.^29,30 However, little has been done to disentangle the complex interrelationships among race/ethnicity, SES, and perceptions of unmet or delayed need, especially among women.In an attempt to fill this important gap, we used data from a nationally representative, community-based survey of African American and White women to examine how race/ethnicity and SES are associated with perceived unmet medical care needs. More specifically, we attempted to answer the following question: how does SES influence the relationship between race/ethnicity and perceptions of unmet or delayed need for care among women? Our study was guided by the King and Williams²⁴ conceptual framework for understanding racial differences in health. According to that framework,

race is a proxy variable representing how biological, cultural, socioeconomic, sociopolitical, and discrimination factors … jointly influence health practices, psychosocial and environmental stress, medical care, and ultimately health outcomes.^24(p107)

     

Poor Dietary Quality and Patterns Are Associated with Higher Perceived Stress among Women of Reproductive Age in the UK

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between stress and diet quality/patterns among women of reproductive age in UK. In total, 244 reproductive aged women participated in an online survey consisting of the European Prospective into Cancer and Nutrition food frequency questionnaire in addition to stress, depression, physical-activity, adiposity, and socioeconomic questions. An a-priori diet quality index was derived by assessing the adherence to Alternate Mediterranean Diet (aMD). A-posteriori dietary-patterns (DPs) were explored through factor analysis. Regression models were used to assess the predictors of the DPs. Participants mainly had medium (n = 113) aMD adherence. Higher stress levels were reported by participants with low aMD adherence. Participants with high aMD adherence were of normal BMI. Factor analysis revealed three DPs: fats and oils, sugars, snacks, alcoholic-beverages, red/processed meat, and cereals (DP-1), fish and seafood, eggs, milk and milk-products (DP-2), and fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds (DP-3). Regression models showed that DP-1 was positively associated with stress (p = 0.005) and negatively with age (p = 0.004) and smoking (p = 0.005). DP-2 was negatively associated with maternal educational-level (p = 0.01) while DP-3 was negatively associated with stress (p < 0.001), BMI (p = 0.001), and white ethnicity (p = 0.01). Stress was negatively associated with healthy diet quality/patterns among reproductive aged women.     

Poor Sleep Quality Is Associated with Altered Taste Perception in Chinese Adults

BackgroundSmall clinical studies have suggested that individuals with insufficient sleep could experience taste dysfunction. However, this notion has not been examined in a large-scale, population-based study.ObjectiveThis study aimed to examine whether overall sleep quality, as assessed by insomnia, daytime sleepiness, snoring, and sleep duration, was associated with the odds of having altered taste perception in a large population-based study.DesignThis was a cross-sectional study that used data from a subcohort of the Kailuan study, an ongoing multicenter cohort study that began in 2006 in Tangshan City, China.Participants/settingThe participants were 11,030 adults aged 25 years or older (mean age 53.7 ± 10.7 years), who were free of neurodegenerative diseases. All the participants had undergone questionnaire assessments and medical examinations at Kailuan General Hospital from June 2012 to October 2013.Main outcome measuresAltered taste and olfactory perception were assessed via a questionnaire with two questions regarding whether participants had any problems with sense of taste or smell for ≥3 months.Statistical analyses performedThe association between sleep quality and altered taste/olfactory perception was examined using a logistic regression model, adjusting for age, sex, lifestyle factors (eg, obesity, smoking, alcohol intake, and physical activity) and health status (eg, lipid profiles, blood pressure, modification use, and presence of chronic diseases).ResultsPoor overall sleep quality was associated with a higher risk of having altered taste perception (adjusted odds ratio for low vs high sleep quality 2.03, 95% CI 1.42 to 2.91; P < 0.001). Specifically, insomnia, daytime sleepiness, and short sleep duration, but not prolonged sleep duration and snoring, were significantly associated with altered taste perception. A significant association between overall sleep quality and the risk of having altered olfactory perception was also observed (adjusted odds ratio for low vs high sleep quality 2.17, 95% CI 1.68 to 2.80; P < 0.001).ConclusionsIn this population-based study, poor sleep quality was associated with a high likelihood of altered taste perception.     

Longitudinal Associations Between Poverty and Obesity From Birth Through Adolescence

Objectives. We examined the relationship between timing of poverty and risk of first-incidence obesity from ages 3 to 15.5 years.Methods. We used the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (1991–2007) to study 1150 children with repeated measures of income, weight, and height from birth to 15.5 years in 10 US cities. Our dependent variable was the first incidence of obesity (body mass index ≥ 95th percentile). We measured poverty (income-to-needs ratio < 2) prior to age 2 years and a lagged, time-varying measure of poverty between ages 2 and 12 years. We estimated discrete-time hazard models of the relative risk of first transition to obesity.Results. Poverty prior to age 2 years was associated with risk of obesity by age 15.5 years in fully adjusted models. These associations did not vary by gender.Conclusions. Our findings suggest that there are enduring associations between early life poverty and adolescent obesity. This stage in the life course may serve as a critical period for both poverty and obesity prevention.There are significant socioeconomic disparities in rates of childhood and adolescent obesity, defined as a body mass index (BMI) at or above the 95th percentile, adjusted for age and gender.1–3 Children of low socioeconomic status (SES) are 1.6 times more likely to be obese than high-SES children4 and have steeper rates of increase in obesity.5,6 Despite evidence that the prevalence of obesity has recently stabilized among children overall, it continues to increase among low-SES children.2,5 The positive relationship between low SES and obesity is especially worrisome because of relatively high rates of childhood poverty that have only increased in the recent economic downturn.7 One in 5 US children (16.4 million) now live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level.8To better understand the relationship between poverty and obesity, longitudinal studies of childhood poverty and its associations with obesity throughout childhood are needed. To develop effective policies preventing the incidence of child obesity, studies must also determine critical periods in childhood during which poverty may exert greater influence on the incidence of obesity.9,10 Most studies demonstrating a link between SES and obesity, however, have used a cross-sectional study design.1,5,6,11–16 Fewer studies address the issue of timing of childhood poverty (or other SES measures) and obesity incidence (or changes in BMI) later in life.17–20 Moreover, these few studies omit key information on weight history17,19 and SES prior to middle childhood (younger than 7 years)18,19 or are based on non-US populations,21 which precludes the study of early life associations between poverty and obesity, and limits generalizability to the United States.We used a comprehensive, community-based data set of US children followed from birth to about 15 years of age and for whom multiple measures of children’s SES, height, and weight were collected. Our objective was to examine critical periods in the relationship between poverty and the risk of the first incidence of obesity across the early life course.     

Association Between Sexual Dysfunction,Sleep Impairment and Depression in Women with Fibromyalgia

Sexuality and Disability - We evaluated whether patients who meet the survey criteria for fibromyalgia suffer from a higher rate of sexual dysfunction and sleep disorders compared to those without...