Sharon Christ - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Sharon Christ
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, May 14, 2008
JAMA Ophthalmology, Dec 1, 2014
IMPORTANCEDetermination of the mechanisms by which visual loss increases mortality risk is import... more IMPORTANCEDetermination of the mechanisms by which visual loss increases mortality risk is important for developing interventional strategies.OBJECTIVETo evaluate the direct and indirect effects of loss of visual acuity (VA) on mortality risk through functional status changes among aging adults.DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSProspective longitudinal study of a population-based sample of 2520 noninstitutionalized adults aged 65 to 84 years from September 16, 1993, through July 26, 2003, in the greater Salisbury area of Maryland. Participants underwent reassessment 2, 6, and 8 years after baseline. Mortality status was ascertained from linkage with the National Death Index through 2009.EXPOSURESResults of VA testing and self-reported functional status based on activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental ADL (IADL).MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASUREMortality.RESULTSWorse VA levels at baseline were associated with an increased the risk for mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 1.16 [95% CI, 1.04–1.28]; P < .01) through their effect on lower IADL levels at baseline. Declines in VA over time were associated with increased mortality risk (HR, 1.78 [95% CI, 1.27–2.51]; P < .001) by way of decreasing IADL levels over time. Participants experiencing the mean linear decline in VA of 1 letter on the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study acuity chart per year are expected to have a 16% increase in mortality risk during the 8-year study exclusively through associated declines in IADL levels.CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCEIn this longitudinal study of older adults, VA loss adversely affected IADL levels, which subsequently increased the risk for mortality. Prevention of disabling ocular conditions, treatment of correctable visual impairment, and interventions designed to prevent the effect of visual impairment on IADL declines may all reduce mortality risk in aging adults.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is the Federal agency responsib... more The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is the Federal agency responsible for occupational safety and health research. In collaboration with its many partners, NIOSH is committed to the collection, analysis, dissemination, and use of data describing the prevalence of disease and health risk factors among workers in the United States. The National Academies has urged greater use of injury and illness data at the national level to identify priorities, focus resources, and evaluate prevention program effectiveness. The Occupational Research Group at the University of Miami is illustrative of an extramural partnership which complements NIOSH intramural programs of surveillance and research. Using population health data collected through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), they have successfully undertaken a broadly based research program that describes employed worker's disability, disease, health care access, health behaviors and mortality among occupational groups and industry sectors. With the second decade of NORA, NIOSH is developing strategies and programs to better move research to practice within workplaces, using an industry sector-based approach to define high priority needs. The Occupational Research Group at the University of Miami has since completed extensive analyses describing the prevalence of disability, morbidity, mortality, and injury & disease burden among workers employed within the eight NORA sector groups identified in 2006:
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is the Federal agency responsib... more The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is the Federal agency responsible for occupational safety and health research. In collaboration with its many partners, NIOSH is committed to the collection, analysis, dissemination, and use of data describing the prevalence of disease and health risk factors among workers in the United States. The National Academies has urged greater use of injury and illness data at the national level to identify priorities, focus resources, and evaluate prevention program effectiveness. The Occupational Research Group at the University of Miami is illustrative of an extramural partnership which complements NIOSH intramural programs of surveillance and research. Using population health data collected through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), they have successfully undertaken a broadly based research program that describes employed worker's disability, disease, health care access, health behaviors and mortality among occupational groups and industry sectors. With the second decade of NORA, NIOSH is developing strategies and programs to better move research to practice within workplaces, using an industry sector-based approach to define high priority needs. The Occupational Research Group at the University of Miami has since completed extensive analyses describing the prevalence of disability, morbidity, mortality, and injury & disease burden among workers employed within the eight NORA sector groups identified in 2006:
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is the Federal agency responsib... more The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is the Federal agency responsible for occupational safety and health research. In collaboration with its many partners, NIOSH is committed to the collection, analysis, dissemination, and use of data describing the prevalence of disease and health risk factors among workers in the United States. The National Academies has urged greater use of injury and illness data at the national level to identify priorities, focus resources, and evaluate prevention program effectiveness. The Occupational Research Group at the University of Miami is illustrative of an extramural partnership which complements NIOSH intramural programs of surveillance and research. Using population health data collected through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), they have successfully undertaken a broadly based research program that describes employed worker's disability, disease, health care access, health behaviors and mortality among occupational groups and industry sectors. With the second decade of NORA, NIOSH is developing strategies and programs to better move research to practice within workplaces, using an industry sector-based approach to define high priority needs. The Occupational Research Group at the University of Miami has since completed extensive analyses describing the prevalence of disability, morbidity, mortality, and injury & disease burden among workers employed within the eight NORA sector groups identified in 2006:
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, Oct 9, 2019
Background: In our Dynamic Pathways, account, we hypothesized that childhood stuttering reflects ... more Background: In our Dynamic Pathways, account, we hypothesized that childhood stuttering reflects an impairment in speech sensorimotor control that is conditioned by cognitive, linguistic, and emotional factors. The purpose of this study was to investigate potential differences in levels of sympathetic arousal during performance of speech and non-speech tasks between children who do and do not stutter. Methods: Seventy-two preschool-aged children participated in the study, 47 children who stutter (CWS; 38 boys) and 25 children who do not stutter (CWNS; 18 boys). We recorded skin conductance and blood pulse volume (BPV) signals, indices of sympathetic arousal, during higher/lower load speech tasks (structured sentence production and picture description) and non-speech tasks (jaw wagging and forceful blowing). We included a measure that reflects children's attitudes about their communication skills and a parent-report assessment of temperament. Results: We found no significant differences between preschool CWS and CWNS in phasic skin conductance response amplitude or frequency, BPV, and pulse rate for any of the experimental tasks. However, compared to CWNS, CWS had, on average, significantly higher skin conductance levels (SCL), indexing slowly changing tonic sympathetic activity, across both speech and non-speech experimental conditions. We found distinctive task-related profiles of sympathetic arousal in both groups of preschool children. Most children produced the highest levels of sympathetic arousal in the physically demanding blowing task rather than in speech, as seen in previous studies of adults. We did not find differences in temperament between the two groups of preschool children nor a relationship among behavioral indices of temperament and communication attitude and physiological measures of sympathetic arousal. Conclusion: We did not find that atypically high, speech-related sympathetic arousal is a significant factor in early childhood stuttering. Rather, CWS had higher, on average, task-related tonic SCLs across speech and non-speech tasks. A relationship among behavioral measures of temperament and physiological measures of sympathetic
Child Abuse & Neglect, 2022
BACKGROUND Childhood maltreatment types can co-occur and are associated with increased substance ... more BACKGROUND Childhood maltreatment types can co-occur and are associated with increased substance use during adolescence and early adulthood. There is also a strong genetic basis for substance use which interacts with environmental factors (e.g., childhood maltreatment) to influence substance use phenotype. OBJECTIVE This research aimed to identify childhood maltreatment sub-groups based on type and chronicity, and their association with substance use change from adolescence to early adulthood, while accounting for the influence of substance use polygenic risk (i.e., genetic risk based on the combined effects of multiple genes). PARTICIPANTS We used a sample of unrelated European-origin Americans with genetic and childhood maltreatment data (n = 2,664) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. METHODS Latent profile analysis was used for sub-group identification and direct and interaction effects were tested for longitudinal trajectories of substance use utilizing generalized estimating equations. RESULTS Three sub-groups with co-occurring childhood maltreatment exposures were identified: a high sexual abuse sub-group, a high physical abuse sub-group, and a normative sub-group (with low maltreatment exposure). At high polygenic risk, the high physical abuse sub-group had faster increases in substance use over time. In comparison, the high sexual abuse sub-group had faster progression in substance use only at low and medium polygenic risk. CONCLUSIONS Findings provide initial evidence for biological and environmental differences among maltreatment sub-groups on trajectories of substance use.
Journal of Aging and Health, 2022
Objectives. The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of modified vers... more Objectives. The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of modified versions of the Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire and Exercise Identity Scale for use with adults ages ≥55 years to measure regulatory styles and identity related to physical activity. Methods. Participants [ M age = 66.29 years ( SD = 7.06)] answered an online questionnaire twice across a four-week timescale. We assessed measurement invariance and convergent and divergent validity based on relations between regulatory styles, identity, and physical activity. Results. Both measures were invariant across gender and time, and findings support the convergent and divergent validity of the scales. Notably, a two-factor model of identity representing role identity and physical activity beliefs provided the best fit, and physical activity beliefs was more strongly related to introjected regulation. Discussion. Taken together, there is evidence that these modified scales are suitable f...
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 2010
Life Course Research and Social Policies, 2020
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 2007
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 2007
We pilot tested a walking intervention designed to leverage available social support among older ... more We pilot tested a walking intervention designed to leverage available social support among older adult couples to promote increased physical activity. Based on self-determination theory, the purpose of this study was to examine whether greater autonomy support and less persuasion and pressure from one's spouse promoted greater increases in physical activity in an 8-week collaborative versus individual goal-setting intervention. 32 couples age 50 and older were randomized together into a concurrent individual (each person set and evaluated their own goals) or a collaborative (couples set and evaluated cumulative goals together) goal-setting condition. Physical activity was measured using accelerometers. Autonomy support, persuasion, and pressure from one's partner were assessed via questionnaire. While this pilot study was not powered to detect interactions, the condition by persuasion interaction (p = .11) and the condition by pressure interaction (p = .08) displayed meaning...
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 2006
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 2017
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 2010
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 2008
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 2007
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 2009
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 2011
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, May 14, 2008
JAMA Ophthalmology, Dec 1, 2014
IMPORTANCEDetermination of the mechanisms by which visual loss increases mortality risk is import... more IMPORTANCEDetermination of the mechanisms by which visual loss increases mortality risk is important for developing interventional strategies.OBJECTIVETo evaluate the direct and indirect effects of loss of visual acuity (VA) on mortality risk through functional status changes among aging adults.DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSProspective longitudinal study of a population-based sample of 2520 noninstitutionalized adults aged 65 to 84 years from September 16, 1993, through July 26, 2003, in the greater Salisbury area of Maryland. Participants underwent reassessment 2, 6, and 8 years after baseline. Mortality status was ascertained from linkage with the National Death Index through 2009.EXPOSURESResults of VA testing and self-reported functional status based on activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental ADL (IADL).MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASUREMortality.RESULTSWorse VA levels at baseline were associated with an increased the risk for mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 1.16 [95% CI, 1.04–1.28]; P < .01) through their effect on lower IADL levels at baseline. Declines in VA over time were associated with increased mortality risk (HR, 1.78 [95% CI, 1.27–2.51]; P < .001) by way of decreasing IADL levels over time. Participants experiencing the mean linear decline in VA of 1 letter on the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study acuity chart per year are expected to have a 16% increase in mortality risk during the 8-year study exclusively through associated declines in IADL levels.CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCEIn this longitudinal study of older adults, VA loss adversely affected IADL levels, which subsequently increased the risk for mortality. Prevention of disabling ocular conditions, treatment of correctable visual impairment, and interventions designed to prevent the effect of visual impairment on IADL declines may all reduce mortality risk in aging adults.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is the Federal agency responsib... more The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is the Federal agency responsible for occupational safety and health research. In collaboration with its many partners, NIOSH is committed to the collection, analysis, dissemination, and use of data describing the prevalence of disease and health risk factors among workers in the United States. The National Academies has urged greater use of injury and illness data at the national level to identify priorities, focus resources, and evaluate prevention program effectiveness. The Occupational Research Group at the University of Miami is illustrative of an extramural partnership which complements NIOSH intramural programs of surveillance and research. Using population health data collected through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), they have successfully undertaken a broadly based research program that describes employed worker's disability, disease, health care access, health behaviors and mortality among occupational groups and industry sectors. With the second decade of NORA, NIOSH is developing strategies and programs to better move research to practice within workplaces, using an industry sector-based approach to define high priority needs. The Occupational Research Group at the University of Miami has since completed extensive analyses describing the prevalence of disability, morbidity, mortality, and injury & disease burden among workers employed within the eight NORA sector groups identified in 2006:
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is the Federal agency responsib... more The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is the Federal agency responsible for occupational safety and health research. In collaboration with its many partners, NIOSH is committed to the collection, analysis, dissemination, and use of data describing the prevalence of disease and health risk factors among workers in the United States. The National Academies has urged greater use of injury and illness data at the national level to identify priorities, focus resources, and evaluate prevention program effectiveness. The Occupational Research Group at the University of Miami is illustrative of an extramural partnership which complements NIOSH intramural programs of surveillance and research. Using population health data collected through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), they have successfully undertaken a broadly based research program that describes employed worker's disability, disease, health care access, health behaviors and mortality among occupational groups and industry sectors. With the second decade of NORA, NIOSH is developing strategies and programs to better move research to practice within workplaces, using an industry sector-based approach to define high priority needs. The Occupational Research Group at the University of Miami has since completed extensive analyses describing the prevalence of disability, morbidity, mortality, and injury & disease burden among workers employed within the eight NORA sector groups identified in 2006:
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is the Federal agency responsib... more The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is the Federal agency responsible for occupational safety and health research. In collaboration with its many partners, NIOSH is committed to the collection, analysis, dissemination, and use of data describing the prevalence of disease and health risk factors among workers in the United States. The National Academies has urged greater use of injury and illness data at the national level to identify priorities, focus resources, and evaluate prevention program effectiveness. The Occupational Research Group at the University of Miami is illustrative of an extramural partnership which complements NIOSH intramural programs of surveillance and research. Using population health data collected through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), they have successfully undertaken a broadly based research program that describes employed worker's disability, disease, health care access, health behaviors and mortality among occupational groups and industry sectors. With the second decade of NORA, NIOSH is developing strategies and programs to better move research to practice within workplaces, using an industry sector-based approach to define high priority needs. The Occupational Research Group at the University of Miami has since completed extensive analyses describing the prevalence of disability, morbidity, mortality, and injury & disease burden among workers employed within the eight NORA sector groups identified in 2006:
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, Oct 9, 2019
Background: In our Dynamic Pathways, account, we hypothesized that childhood stuttering reflects ... more Background: In our Dynamic Pathways, account, we hypothesized that childhood stuttering reflects an impairment in speech sensorimotor control that is conditioned by cognitive, linguistic, and emotional factors. The purpose of this study was to investigate potential differences in levels of sympathetic arousal during performance of speech and non-speech tasks between children who do and do not stutter. Methods: Seventy-two preschool-aged children participated in the study, 47 children who stutter (CWS; 38 boys) and 25 children who do not stutter (CWNS; 18 boys). We recorded skin conductance and blood pulse volume (BPV) signals, indices of sympathetic arousal, during higher/lower load speech tasks (structured sentence production and picture description) and non-speech tasks (jaw wagging and forceful blowing). We included a measure that reflects children's attitudes about their communication skills and a parent-report assessment of temperament. Results: We found no significant differences between preschool CWS and CWNS in phasic skin conductance response amplitude or frequency, BPV, and pulse rate for any of the experimental tasks. However, compared to CWNS, CWS had, on average, significantly higher skin conductance levels (SCL), indexing slowly changing tonic sympathetic activity, across both speech and non-speech experimental conditions. We found distinctive task-related profiles of sympathetic arousal in both groups of preschool children. Most children produced the highest levels of sympathetic arousal in the physically demanding blowing task rather than in speech, as seen in previous studies of adults. We did not find differences in temperament between the two groups of preschool children nor a relationship among behavioral indices of temperament and communication attitude and physiological measures of sympathetic arousal. Conclusion: We did not find that atypically high, speech-related sympathetic arousal is a significant factor in early childhood stuttering. Rather, CWS had higher, on average, task-related tonic SCLs across speech and non-speech tasks. A relationship among behavioral measures of temperament and physiological measures of sympathetic
Child Abuse & Neglect, 2022
BACKGROUND Childhood maltreatment types can co-occur and are associated with increased substance ... more BACKGROUND Childhood maltreatment types can co-occur and are associated with increased substance use during adolescence and early adulthood. There is also a strong genetic basis for substance use which interacts with environmental factors (e.g., childhood maltreatment) to influence substance use phenotype. OBJECTIVE This research aimed to identify childhood maltreatment sub-groups based on type and chronicity, and their association with substance use change from adolescence to early adulthood, while accounting for the influence of substance use polygenic risk (i.e., genetic risk based on the combined effects of multiple genes). PARTICIPANTS We used a sample of unrelated European-origin Americans with genetic and childhood maltreatment data (n = 2,664) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. METHODS Latent profile analysis was used for sub-group identification and direct and interaction effects were tested for longitudinal trajectories of substance use utilizing generalized estimating equations. RESULTS Three sub-groups with co-occurring childhood maltreatment exposures were identified: a high sexual abuse sub-group, a high physical abuse sub-group, and a normative sub-group (with low maltreatment exposure). At high polygenic risk, the high physical abuse sub-group had faster increases in substance use over time. In comparison, the high sexual abuse sub-group had faster progression in substance use only at low and medium polygenic risk. CONCLUSIONS Findings provide initial evidence for biological and environmental differences among maltreatment sub-groups on trajectories of substance use.
Journal of Aging and Health, 2022
Objectives. The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of modified vers... more Objectives. The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of modified versions of the Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire and Exercise Identity Scale for use with adults ages ≥55 years to measure regulatory styles and identity related to physical activity. Methods. Participants [ M age = 66.29 years ( SD = 7.06)] answered an online questionnaire twice across a four-week timescale. We assessed measurement invariance and convergent and divergent validity based on relations between regulatory styles, identity, and physical activity. Results. Both measures were invariant across gender and time, and findings support the convergent and divergent validity of the scales. Notably, a two-factor model of identity representing role identity and physical activity beliefs provided the best fit, and physical activity beliefs was more strongly related to introjected regulation. Discussion. Taken together, there is evidence that these modified scales are suitable f...
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 2010
Life Course Research and Social Policies, 2020
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 2007
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 2007
We pilot tested a walking intervention designed to leverage available social support among older ... more We pilot tested a walking intervention designed to leverage available social support among older adult couples to promote increased physical activity. Based on self-determination theory, the purpose of this study was to examine whether greater autonomy support and less persuasion and pressure from one's spouse promoted greater increases in physical activity in an 8-week collaborative versus individual goal-setting intervention. 32 couples age 50 and older were randomized together into a concurrent individual (each person set and evaluated their own goals) or a collaborative (couples set and evaluated cumulative goals together) goal-setting condition. Physical activity was measured using accelerometers. Autonomy support, persuasion, and pressure from one's partner were assessed via questionnaire. While this pilot study was not powered to detect interactions, the condition by persuasion interaction (p = .11) and the condition by pressure interaction (p = .08) displayed meaning...
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 2006
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 2017
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 2010
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 2008
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 2007
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 2009
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 2011