NKF's KEEP leads to [longitudinal study].
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to John M Flack.
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OBJECTIVE: This investigation examined the association of violence exposure (home and neighborhood) and optimism to task-induced changes in systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and pulse rate (PR). METHODS: Drawn from a larger investigation, the convenience sample for this study consisted of 172 normotensive black youth (mean age = 11.5 years, standard deviation = 1.3). Violence exposure and optimism were self-reported by participants, and task-induced changes in SBP, DBP, and PR were measured with an automated monitor during two sequentially administered digit-forward and digit-backward tasks. RESULTS: Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that violence exposure was inversely related to task-induced changes in SBP (p = .010) and DBP (p = .005). Optimism was not an independent predictor of blood pressure or PR changes (p-s > .32). The final step of these hierarchical analyses indicated that the effects of violence exposure and optimism interacted to predict task-induced changes in SBP (p = .013) and PR (p = .003). Follow-up regression analyses indicated that violence exposure was inversely related to task-induced changes in SBP among participants high in optimism and was positively associated with PR reactivity in participants low in optimism. CONCLUSIONS: The youth in this study have intact mechanisms for buffering blood pressure responses to violence exposure, especially those who are more optimistic about their future-a person factor whose moderating effects might wane with advancing age.
Hypertension is a major cause of cardiovascular-renal morbidity and mortality and all-cause mortality. It is a highly significant problem for African Americans; about 30% of all deaths in this population are attributable to hypertension. Compared with whites, hypertension in African Americans is more prevalent, occurs earlier in life, is more severe, and is more often associated with target organ injury such as left ventricular hypertrophy and other cardiovascular complications. Only 25% of all African Americans with hypertension and fewer than 50% of those receiving drug treatment attain a blood pressure <140/90 mm Hg. These control rates are somewhat less than in white Americans. Enhanced awareness and understanding of the epidemiologic patterns of hypertension, other cardiovascular risk factors, risk-factor control rates, and factors influencing these control rates should lead to better approaches to risk-factor control. This most likely would result in a reduction of cardiovascular disease complications.
Hypertensive disorders occur in 6% to 8% of all pregnancies, are the second leading cause of maternal death, and contribute to significant neonatal morbidity and mortality. This is a problem not only in inpatient settings, as ambulatory and home-care nurses are increasingly being called upon to monitor women who are at high risk and may have hypertensive disorders. To prevent hypertension-induced problems in pregnant women, nurses must have strong assessment, advocacy, and counseling skills. Nurses also must provide care based on the latest national standards as described in this article.