Psychosocial stressors in relation to oral health in African American women

抽象的。 非裔美国人(AA)口腔健康状况较差的比例较高，包括牙周病(牙周病)和 无牙畸形(牙齿脱落)比白人少，这种差异只能部分地由收入、教育程度和 保险状况。心理社会压力可能会导致口腔健康状况不佳。两国之间的积极关联 心理社会应激源(如抑郁、职业紧张)和慢性炎症性牙周病 都已被记录在案。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利影响。压力可能与AA特别相关，他们的比例不成比例 暴露于种族主义、邻里剥夺和暴力(消极的心理社会因素)，这可能会起到 慢性和急性压力的来源。美国人也比白人更有可能表明宗教 和灵性(积极的心理社会因素)在他们的日常生活中很重要。一种可能的机制来 解释压力-口腔健康关联涉及可能伴随心理社会的行为变化 压力源，包括吸烟、口腔卫生和看牙(潜在的媒介)，所有这些因素都会影响 牙周病。其他机制包括应激源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的和积极的心理社会。 与成人口腔健康有关的生命过程中的因素(自我评价低的口腔健康和高水平的牙齿 在黑人妇女健康研究(BWHS)中的AA女性中)，一项正在进行的 对59,000名美国黑人女性的纵向研究始于1995年。我们有大量关于心理社会的信息 发生在儿童和青春期以及在 成年期；我们有关于潜在中介因素和重要混杂因素(例如，性别、个人)的数据 社会经济状况)；我们收集了关于自我评估口腔健康、牙齿脱落和牙医诊断的数据 在随访过程中发现牙周病。这些发现旨在为下一步的研究奠定基础 关于慢性压力如何导致牙周病和牙齿脱落的机制研究。未来的研究可能 评估炎症和微生物途径，这反过来可能为新疗法的开发提供信息 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.