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Objectives: Maternal socioeconomic status (SES) is an important predictor of adverse birth outcomes and postnatal health across global populations. Chronic inflammation is implicated in cardiometabolic disease risk in high‐income contexts and is a potential pathway linking maternal adversity to offspring health trajectories. To clarify how socioeconomic inequality shapes pregnancy inflammation in middle‐income settings, we investigated SES as a predictor of inflammatory cytokines in late gestation in a sample from the Cebu Longitudinal Health Nutrition Survey in Cebu, Philippines. Methods: We used multiple regression to evaluate maternal SES, reflected in household assets, as a predictor of general inflammation (C‐reactive protein), inflammatory cytokines (interleukin‐6, interleukin‐10), and inflammatory balance (n = 407). Inflammatory markers were measured at 29.9 weeks gestation in dried blood spots, and a measure reflecting relative balance of IL6 and IL10 was calculated to capture pro‐ versus anti‐inflammatory skewed immune profiles. Results: Greater household assets significantly predicted lower IL6 concentration (p < 0.001), with a trend toward lower IL6 relative to IL10 (p = 0.084). C‐reactive protein and IL10 were not individually related to SES. Conclusions: The inverse relationship between SES and pregnancy inflammation in Cebu is consistent with results from high‐income settings. These findings further highlight the influence of socioeconomic conditions on immune regulation during pregnancy. Given the evidence that gestational inflammation impacts offspring fetal growth, our results suggest that social and economic effects on immune function may be an important pathway for the intergenerational transmission of health disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The goal of this study was to develop and evaluate an intervention aimed at increasing cognitive empathy, improving mental health, and reducing inflammation in dementia caregivers, and to examine the relevant neural and psychological mechanisms. Methods: Twenty dementia caregivers completed an intervention that involved taking 3–5 daily photographs of their person living with dementia (PLWD) over a period of 10 days and captioning those photos with descriptive text capturing the inner voice of the PLWD. Both before and after the intervention, participants completed questionnaires, provided a blood sample for measures of inflammation, and completed a neuroimaging session to measure their neural response to viewing photographs of their PLWD and others. Results: 87% of enrolled caregivers completed the intervention. Caregivers experienced pre- to post-intervention increases in cognitive empathy (i.e. Perspective-Taking) and decreases in both burden and anxiety. These changes were paralleled by an increased neural response to photographs of their PLWD within brain regions implicated in cognitive empathy. Conclusion: These findings warrant a larger replication study that includes a control condition and follows participants to establish the duration of the intervention effects. Clinical Implications: Cognitive empathy interventions may improve caregiver mental health and are worthy of further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Dysregulated inflammation underlies many human diseases, and measures of responsiveness to activation, and sensitivity to inhibition, provide important information beyond baseline assessments of chronic inflammation. This study implements a simplified cell culture protocol in a school‐based setting, using finger stick capillary blood collected from 333 adolescents (age 11.4–15.6 years) incubated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Median cytokine responses for IL6, IL1β, and TNFα were 61.9, 26.2, and 11.2 pg/mL, respectively. Samples were also incubated with LPS and glucocorticoid (GC) to measure GC sensitivity. Median responses were reduced in the presence of GC inhibition for IL6 (20.3 pg/mL), IL1β (10.5 pg/mL), and TNFα (3.3 pg/mL). Minimally invasive cell culture protocols provide novel opportunities for measuring inflammatory phenotypes in a wide range of non‐clinical settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Recent discussions in human biology have highlighted how local ecological contexts shape the relationship between social stressors and health across populations. Chronic low‐grade inflammation has been proposed as a pathway linking social stressors to health, with evidence concentrated in high‐income Western contexts. However, it remains unclear whether this is an important pathway in populations where prevalence is lower due to lower adiposity and greater infectious exposures. To investigate this further, we tested associations between multiple types of intimate partner violence (IPV), a highly prevalent stressor and health crisis globally, and C‐reactive protein (CRP), a commonly used measure of chronic low‐grade inflammation, in Cebu, Philippines. For reference, we compared results for CRP to depression, a well‐established and consistently observed health outcome of IPV. Methods: Data came from 1601 currently partnered women (ages 35–69 years) as part of the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey. IPV exposures included physical, emotional, and controlling behavior. Depression scores were measured using a modified version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies‐Depression Scale for this population, whereas plasma CRP was measured from overnight‐fasted morning blood samples. Results: All three types of IPV were associated with a higher depression score. However, none of the IPV measures were associated with CRP. In a post hoc interaction test, emotional IPV became positively associated with CRP as waist circumference increased above the mean. Conclusions: Our results suggest a complex relationship between social stressors and chronic low‐grade inflammation, which is likely dependent on the population‐specific context of lifestyle and environmental factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methamphetamine use and HIV disproportionately affect sexual and gender minority (SGM) people assigned male at birth. Identifying risk factors for methamphetamine use is crucial to inform preventive interventions. In this cohort study with 1,296 SGM people assigned male at birth, ages 16 to 29, and who resided in Chicago, Poisson regression analyses indicated the prevalence of methamphetamine use increased from 2015 to 2023 [Incidence Rate Ratio (IRR) = 1.07; 95% CI = 1.01 to 1.13; P = 0.02]. This increase was most pronounced among those ages 25 or older at baseline (IRR = 2.20; 95% CI = 1.33 to 3.63; P = 0.002), and 23.9 [Interquartile Range (IQR) = 22.1 to 26.9] was the median age of first-time methamphetamine use. In 826 participants with a prior HIV diagnosis or previous inflammatory measurements, Cox proportional-hazards models examined risk factors for incident, first-time methamphetamine use. Adjusting for other substance use, the rate of incident, first-time methamphetamine use was two-fold greater after HIV diagnosis [adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) = 2.02; 95% CI = 1.27 to 3.23; P = 0.003]. For each SD higher C-reactive protein, the rate of incident, first-time methamphetamine use was 18% greater (aHR = 1.18; 95% CI, 1.05 to 1.34; P = 0.008). HIV seroconversion and inflammation could increase the risk of initiating methamphetamine use in SGM people assigned male at birth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Adolescent violence victimisation is associated with a spectrum of adult social and behavioural health outcomes, including adverse mental health symptoms. However, underlying social stress mechanisms linking adolescent victimisation to adult cardiometabolic health remains poorly understood. Aim: The current study aims to reveal how adolescent and adult interpersonal violence exposures each get "under the skin" to affect adult metabolic syndrome, including direct victimisation and, additionally, witnessing violence. Subjects and methods: We use a nationally representative longitudinal cohort, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, and leverage a quasi-experimental approach, propensity score matching regression analysis (n = 14,267). Results: We find that adolescent violence exposure carries an enduring effect on young adult metabolic syndrome risk factor incidence and high-risk status, which is independent of young adult violence. Violence effects do not vary by sex or racial identity. Conclusion: In sum, adolescent exposure to direct interpersonal violence significantly affects young adult cardiometabolic health in ways suggesting adolescence is a sensitive period for the onset of harmful cardiometabolic effects in early adulthood. Findings warrant future study of underlying pathways and how these effects shape social inequities in cardiometabolic health among U.S. adults broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic inflammation contributes to the onset and progression of cardiovascular disease and other degenerative diseases of aging. But does it have to? This article considers the associations among inflammation, aging, and health through the lens of human population biology and suggests that chronic inflammation is not a normal nor inevitable component of aging. It is commonly assumed that conclusions drawn from research in affluent, industrialized countries can be applied globally; that aging processes leading to morbidity and mortality begin in middle age; and that inflammation is pathological. These foundational assumptions have shifted focus away from inflammation as a beneficial response to infection or injury and toward an understanding of inflammation as chronic, dysregulated, and dangerous. Findings from community-based studies around the world—many conducted in areas with relatively high burdens of infectious disease—challenge these assumptions by documenting substantial variation in levels of inflammation and patterns of association with disease. They also indicate that nutritional, microbial, and psychosocial environments in infancy and childhood play important roles in shaping inflammatory phenotypes and their contributions to diseases of aging. A comparative, developmental, and ecological approach has the potential to generate novel insights into the regulation of inflammation and how it relates to human health over the life course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]