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

项目总结/摘要 心血管疾病是美国人死亡的主要原因。早期心理社会压力 儿童时期与心血管健康状况较差有关，行为和生物学改变， 潜在机制。早期压力与日后心血管健康状况恶化之间的一种机制 皮质醇是一种调节压力反应和新陈代谢的激素。 皮质醇失调可包括皮质醇水平升高或减弱，因为两者都与 慢性压力和健康状况不佳。第二种机制是饮食和饮食行为的改变 继早期心理社会压力之后，急性和慢性压力与致肥胖饮食有关， 饮食行为。目前尚不清楚皮质醇失调是否会改变饮食和饮食行为 调解早期心理社会压力与青少年心血管健康状况较差之间的关联。 这个项目的目标是了解皮质醇失调和饮食和饮食行为的改变是否 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 确定干预措施的目标，以促进经历过心血管疾病的人群的理想心血管健康 早期压力这一目标将通过两个互补的队列来实现： 不同的青少年过度抽样的高心理社会风险和现有的数据，从雅芳纵向 父母和孩子的研究（ALSPAC; N= 9，600）。这些群组将用于实现两个目标。目标1： 为了检验皮质醇失调介导心理社会应激与抑郁症之间联系的假设， 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，和1b）青少年肥胖饮食模式和饮食行为。目标2：测试 假设儿童肥胖饮食模式和饮食行为介导了这种关联 儿童早期心理社会压力与2a）青少年肥胖、血压和血清 炎症和心血管健康不良的标志物，和2b）青少年致肥胖饮食模式， 饮食行为。我是一名发展心理学家，擅长儿童心理社会压力， 皮质醇调节这个奖项将使我能够扩展我的专业知识，以评估和改善 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 在Elysia Davis博士的主要指导下，丹佛大学。我将获得培训和内容 在以下领域的知识：1）心血管健康和金标准的方法来衡量 肥胖、血压和心血管健康的血清标志物; 2）饮食和饮食行为评估; 3)先进的统计;（4）进行干预。这个提案中的研究和培训将帮助我 开始一个独立的职业生涯，研究从早期压力到心血管健康的途径。

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.