Inter-American Center for Public Health Improvement, Inc., P.O. Box, 3414, Christiansted, St. Croix, VI 00822. phone: 340-244-9227.
Department Health Promotion and Development, School of Nursing, University of Pittsburgh, 440 Victoria Building, 3500 Victoria Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15261-2543. phone:412-624-8977.
J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2015 Mar;2(1):132-8. doi: 10.1007/s40615-014-0056-9.
Spirituality may contribute to the health advantage of foreign-born blacks compared to United States (US)-born blacks. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that spirituality attenuates the association of psychosocial stress to stress-associated metabolic risk factors among foreign-born Caribbean blacks living in a US jurisdiction.
Data on demographic factors, anthropometric measurements (height, weight and waist), fasting glucose and insulin, lifestyle behaviors (smoking and alcohol use), psychosocial stress and spirituality were collected from a population-based sample of 319 Afro-Caribbean immigrants, ages 20 and older, who were recruited between 1995 and 2000 in the Virgin Islands of the United States (USVI). Glucose and insulin measurements were used to estimate insulin resistance by the homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR) method. Participants were classified into three levels of spirituality, "low", "medium" and "high" based on the distribution of spirituality scores. Stepwise regression analyses were used to identify the significant predictors of waist circumference and HOMA-IR within each level of spirituality.
The predictors of waist circumference and HOMA-IR varied across the levels of spirituality. Psychosocial stress was an independent predictor of waist and HOMA-IR only among participants with a low level of spirituality.
Spirituality appears to attenuate the association of psychosocial stress to waist circumference and insulin resistance among Afro-Caribbean immigrants in the USVI.
与美国出生的黑人相比，精神信仰可能有助于增加外国出生的黑人的健康优势。本研究的目的是检验以下假设，即精神信仰可以减轻心理社会压力与生活在美属领土的加勒比裔外国出生黑人的应激相关代谢风险因素之间的关联。
从 1995 年至 2000 年在美国维尔京群岛招募的 319 名年龄在 20 岁及以上的非洲裔加勒比移民的人群中收集了人口统计学因素、人体测量学测量（身高、体重和腰围）、空腹血糖和胰岛素、生活方式行为（吸烟和饮酒）、心理社会压力和精神信仰的数据。采用稳态模型评估（HOMA-IR）法，根据血糖和胰岛素测量结果估计胰岛素抵抗。根据精神信仰得分的分布，将参与者分为“低”、“中”和“高”三个精神信仰水平。采用逐步回归分析，确定每个精神信仰水平下腰围和 HOMA-IR 的显著预测因子。
精神信仰水平不同，腰围和 HOMA-IR 的预测因子也不同。只有在精神信仰水平较低的参与者中，心理社会压力才是腰围和 HOMA-IR 的独立预测因子。
精神信仰似乎可以减轻美属维尔京群岛的非洲裔加勒比移民中心理社会压力与腰围和胰岛素抵抗之间的关联。
