Psychosocial stressors in relation to oral health in African American women

抽象的。 非裔美国人（AA）口腔健康状况不佳的比例较高，包括牙周病（牙龈疾病）和 缺牙症（牙齿脱落）比白人，差异只是部分解释了收入，教育， 保险状况。心理社会压力可能导致口腔健康不良。积极的联系， 心理社会压力源（例如，抑郁症、职业紧张）和慢性炎症性牙周病 已经被记录在案。此外，有证据表明，健康的应对机制可能会改善 压力对口腔健康的不良影响。压力可能与AA特别相关，他们不成比例地 暴露于种族主义，邻里剥夺和暴力（消极的心理社会因素），这可能会成为 慢性和急性压力的来源。AA也比白人更有可能表明宗教信仰 和灵性（积极的心理社会因素）在他们的日常生活中很重要。一种可能的机制 解释压力与口腔健康的关系包括可能伴随心理社会的行为变化 压力源，包括吸烟，口腔卫生和牙科就诊（潜在的中介），所有影响因素 牙周病其他机制包括压力对免疫功能和口腔的影响。 微生物组当前提案的目标是前瞻性地评估消极和积极的社会心理 与成人口腔健康有关的生命过程中的因素（低自我评价的口腔健康和较高的牙齿水平） 在黑人妇女健康研究（BWHS）中，AA妇女中的牙缺失和牙周病）， 1995年开始对59,000名美国黑人妇女进行纵向研究。我们有大量有关心理社会的信息 在儿童和青少年时期以及 成年期;我们有关于潜在介导因素和重要混杂因素的数据（例如，个体奇偶性 社会经济地位）;我们收集了关于自我评价的口腔健康，牙齿脱落和牙医诊断的数据。 牙周病在随访过程中调查结果旨在为进一步的研究奠定基础。 慢性压力如何导致牙周病和牙齿脱落的机制研究。未来的研究可以 评估炎症和微生物组途径，这反过来可能会为开发新的治疗方法提供信息。 干预措施。

Abstract. African Americans (AA) have higher rates of poor oral health, including periodontal disease (gum disease) and edentulism (tooth loss) than whites, differences that are only partially explained by income, education, and insurance status. Psychosocial stress may contribute to poor oral health. Positive associations between psychosocial stressors (e.g., depression, occupational stress) and chronic inflammatory periodontal disease have been documented. In addition, evidence suggests that healthy coping mechanisms may ameliorate the adverse effect of stress on oral health. Stress may be particularly relevant to AAs, who are disproportionately exposed to racism, neighborhood deprivation, and violence (negative psychosocial factors), which may act as sources of chronic and acute stress. AAs are also significantly more likely than whites to indicate that religion and spirituality (positive psychosocial factors) are important in their daily lives. A possible mechanism to explain the stress-oral health association involves behavioral changes that may accompany psychosocial stressors, including smoking, oral hygiene, and dental visits (potential mediators), all factors that influence periodontal disease. Other mechanisms include effects of stressors on immune function and on the oral microbiome. The goal of the current proposal is to prospectively assess negative and positive psychosocial factors over the life course in relation to adult oral health (low self-rated oral health and higher levels of tooth loss and periodontal disease) among AA women within the Black Women's Health Study (BWHS), an ongoing longitudinal study of 59,000 U.S. Black women begun in 1995. We have extensive information on psychosocial factors, both negative and positive, that occurred during childhood and adolescence as well as during adulthood; we have data on potential mediating factors, and on important confounders (e.g., parity, individual socioeconomic status); and we have collected data on self-rated oral health, tooth loss, and dentist-diagnosed periodontal disease during the course of follow-up. Findings are intended to lay the groundwork for further mechanistic studies of how chronic stress leads to periodontal disease and tooth loss. Future studies could assess inflammatory and microbiome pathways, which in turn might inform the development of new therapeutic interventions.