Testing cortisol dysregulation as a mediator between early stress and adolescent cardiovascular health

项目摘要/摘要 在美国，心血管疾病是主要的死亡原因。早期的心理社会应激 童年与心血管健康状况较差有关，行为和生物改变如 潜在的机制。一种已提出的早期应激与后期心血管健康状况较差之间的机制 在生活中，皮质醇是一种调节应激反应和调节新陈代谢的荷尔蒙。 皮质醇失调可包括皮质醇水平升高或降低，因为两者都与 长期的压力和糟糕的健康状况。第二个被提出的机制是饮食和饮食行为的改变 继早期心理社会应激之后，急性和慢性应激与肥胖饮食和 进食行为。目前尚不清楚皮质醇失调是否改变了饮食和饮食行为 调节青春期早期心理社会压力和较差的心血管健康之间的联系。 这个项目的目标是了解皮质醇失调和改变饮食和饮食行为 是儿童早期压力和青春期心血管健康状况较差之间的途径。这项工作将 确定干预目标，以促进经历过以下情况的人群的理想心血管健康 早期压力。这一目标将使用两个相辅相成的队列来实现：在100%收集的新数据 不同的青少年因高心理社会风险而被过度抽样，以及雅芳纵向调查的现有数据 父母与子女研究(ALSPAC；N=9,600)。这些群体将被用来实现两个目标。目标1： 为了检验皮质醇失调在心理社会压力和心理压力之间的关系的假设 儿童早期和1a)青少年肥胖、血压以及炎症和贫穷的血清标志物 心血管健康，以及1)青少年肥胖饮食模式和饮食行为。目标2：测试 儿童肥胖饮食模式和饮食行为的假设中介了这种联系 儿童早期的心理社会压力与青少年肥胖、血压和血清之间的关系 炎症和心血管健康不良的标志，以及2b)青少年肥胖的饮食模式和 进食行为。我是一名发展心理学家，擅长儿童心理社会压力和 皮质醇调节。这一奖项将使我能够将我的专业知识扩展到评估和改进 青少年的心血管健康。为了进行这项研究，我将完成一项基于 丹佛大学在Elysia Davis博士的主要指导下。我将获得培训和内容 以下领域的知识：1)心血管健康和衡量以下方面的黄金标准方法 肥胖、血压和心血管健康的血清标记物；2)饮食和饮食行为评估； 3)先进的统计；4)进行干预。这份提案中的研究和培训将对我有所帮助 开始独立的职业生涯，研究从早期压力到心血管健康的各种途径。

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Psychosocial stress in early childhood has been linked to poorer cardiovascular health, with behavioral and biological alterations as potential mechanisms. One proposed mechanism between early stress and poorer cardiovascular health later in life is dysregulation in cortisol, a hormone that mediates stress responses and regulates metabolism. Cortisol dysregulation can include heightened or blunted cortisol levels, as both have been associated with chronic stress and poor health. A second proposed mechanism is alterations in diet and eating behaviors following early psychosocial stress as acute and chronic stress have been associated with obesogenic diet and eating behaviors. It is currently unknown whether cortisol dysregulation and altered diet and eating behaviors mediate the association between early psychosocial stress and poorer cardiovascular health in adolescence. The goal of this project is to understand whether cortisol dysregulation and altered diet and eating behaviors are pathways between early childhood stress and poorer cardiovascular health in adolescence. This work will identify targets for interventions to promote ideal cardiovascular health in populations who have experienced early stress. This goal will be accomplished using two complementary cohorts: new data collected on 100 diverse adolescents oversampled for high psychosocial risk and existing data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC; N=9,600). These cohorts will be used to address two aims. Aim 1: To test the hypothesis that cortisol dysregulation mediates the association between psychosocial stress in early childhood and 1a) adolescent obesity, blood pressure, and serum markers of inflammation and poor cardiovascular health, and 1b) adolescent obesogenic dietary patterns and eating behaviors. Aim 2: To test the hypothesis that childhood obesogenic dietary patterns and eating behaviors mediates the association between psychosocial stress in early childhood and 2a) adolescent obesity, blood pressure, and serum markers of inflammation and poor cardiovascular health, and 2b) adolescent obesogenic dietary patterns and eating behaviors. I am a developmental psychologist with expertise in childhood psychosocial stress and cortisol regulation. This award will enable me to extend my expertise to assessing and improving cardiovascular health in adolescents. To conduct this research, I will complete a training plan based at the University of Denver under the primary mentorship of Dr. Elysia Davis. I will obtain training and content knowledge in the following areas: 1) cardiovascular health and gold-standard approaches for measurement of obesity, blood pressure, and serum markers of cardiovascular health; 2) diet and eating behavior assessment; 3) advanced statistics; and 4) conducting interventions. The research and training in this proposal will help me launch an independent career investigating pathways from early stress to cardiovascular health.