The following is a summary of “Mental Health During Early Adolescence and Later Cardiometabolic Risk: A Prospective Study of US Latinx Youth,” published in the January 2024 issue of Pediatrics by Roche, et al.

Teenagers in the US, especially those of Latinx descent, are facing major public health problems as the number of heart disease and mental health issues rises. For a study, researchers sought to look at how Latinx teens’ internalizing symptoms in the early stages of puberty are connected to sleep issues, being overweight or obese, being physically active, eating well, and the risk of high blood pressure or diabetes in the middle and late stages of puberty.

547 teens who were listed as “Hispanic” on registration lists for middle schools in a suburban Atlanta, GA, school system in 2017-18 were among the participants. Structural Equation Model was used to look at survey data that was taken at the start of the study in 2018 and again four years later in 2022. Path estimates from baseline internalizing symptoms to later health habits and physical health outcomes that take into account demographics, the follow-up measure of internalizing symptoms, and how outcome factors are related to each other. Full Information Maximum Likelihood was used to deal with missing data.

At the start of the study, the average age in years of the 244 (44.6%) male and 303 (55.4%) female subjects was 13.31 (0.97). It was found that early adolescent internalizing symptoms were linked to later sleep problems (ß = 0.36 [95% CI], 0.24–0.48]), overweight or obesity (adjusted odds ratio, 2.57; 95% CI, 1.29–5.15), sedentary behavior (ß = 0.19 [95% CI], 0.09–0.30]), and internalizing symptoms (ß = 0.48 [95% CI, 0.39–0.56]). On the other hand, they were linked to later physical activity (ß = −0.16 [95% CI, −0.27 to −0.05]) and a healthy diet (ß = −0.21 [95% CI, −0.32 to −0.09]). In early adolescence, Latinx youth experience internalizing symptoms that follow them into later adolescence. These symptoms are also linked to health practices and results that affect cardiometabolic risk in middle and late adolescence.

Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1054139X23004366