Theresa E Gildner

Washington University in St. Louis | WUSTL , Wash U · Department of Anthropology

Background and Objectives Selective pressures on human childbirth have led to the evolution of cooperative birth practices, with birth attendants playing a crucial role in providing emotional support during labor. Methodology We leveraged COVID-19-related healthcare disruptions to investigate the impact of the evolutionary mismatch in availability...

Background Rising global obesity rates are linked with inflammation and associated morbidities. These negative outcomes are generally more common in low-resource communities within high-income countries; however, it is unclear how frequent infectious disease exposures in these settings may influence the relationship between adiposity and inflammati...

Objectives Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) —a gastric bacteria affecting almost 50% of the global population and leading to ulcers and cancer in severe cases—is a growing health concern among Indigenous populations who report a high burden of reported poor general health and gastrointestinal distress. We test hypothesized associations between H. py...

Objectives The hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis and its primary end product, the glucocorticoid cortisol, are major components of the evolved human stress response. However, most studies have examined these systems among populations in high‐income settings, which differ from the high pathogen and limited resource contexts in which the HPA...

Infant social–emotional development may be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study investigated associations between maternal pre- and postnatal pandemic-related concerns and social–emotional developmental risk. Data, collected in 2020–2021, came from 220 mothers (87% white, 6% Hispanic, 1% Black, 3% Asian, 1% American Indian, Mage = 32.46 ye...

Background and objectives Childbirth fear, which has been argued to have an adaptive basis, exists on a spectrum. Pathologically high levels of childbirth fear is a clinical condition called tokophobia. As a chronic stressor in pregnancy, tokophobia could impact birth outcomes. Many factors associated with tokophobia, including inadequate labor sup...

Introduction: Intestinal infections with helminths (parasitic worms) and protists (single-celled eukaryotes) may be neglected health issues in low-resource communities across the United States. Because they predominantly infect school-aged children and can lead to nutritional deficiencies and developmental delays, these infections can affect lifel...

Purpose of Review Biocultural methods are critically important for identifying environmental and socioeconomic factors linked with tropical disease risk and outcomes. For example, embodiment theory refers to the process by which lived experiences impact individual biology. Increased exposure to pathogens, chronic psychosocial stress, and unequal re...

Abstract: Helicobacter pylori infections disproportionately affect certain populations more than others, especially those residing in resource-poor areas. Sex-specific factors may also impact the virulence and pathogenicity of H. pylori. Estradiol, the primary female sex hormone, may contribute to H. pylori by increasing absorption. However, estrad...

Point‐of‐care testing (POCT) allows researchers and health‐care providers to bring the lab bench to the field, providing essential health information that can be leveraged to improve health care, accessibility, and understanding across clinical and research settings. Gaps in health service access are most pronounced in what we term RIR settings—rur...

Dietary patterns spanning millennia could inform contemporary public health nutrition. Children are largely absent from evidence describing diets throughout human evolution, despite prevalent malnutrition today signaling a potential genome-environment divergence. This systematic review aimed to identify dietary patterns of children ages 6 months to...

Background The COVID‐19 pandemic has dramatically affected pregnant people’s prenatal care, labor, and delivery experiences. Given these rapid changes, providers have needed to be proactive in sharing information about COVID‐19‐related care impacts. The purpose of this study was to investigate: (a) Whether patient demographics or disrupted care (eg...

Objectives Biocultural perspectives combining methods and theories from biological and cultural anthropology are needed to better understand socioeconomic and race‐based health inequities in the United States. For example, the developmental trajectories of gastrointestinal health disparities based on embodied (i.e., internalized) inequities in reso...

The health consequences of soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections are often attributed to parasite-caused tissue damage and nutrient loss, combined with immune energy costs. However, this view overlooks additional pathways by which infection can alter host energetics. Here, we take a first step toward defining this suite of energetic pathways a...

Embodiment Theory describes how external environments and lived experiences shape internal physiology and health. Documented disparities in rates of intestinal inflammation and gastrointestinal cancers between Black and white Americans may be related to embodied experiences of psychosocial stress, unequal access to resources, and exposure to pathog...

Infections caused by protozoa and helminths (i.e., worms) are often grouped with certain bacterial/viral infections as Neglected Tropical Diseases because they receive little research attention despite having notable impacts on immune system development and health. This classification leads to the incorrect assumption that non-tropical high-income...

Abstract Background The early postpartum period is recognized cross-culturally as being important for recovery, with new parents receiving increased levels of community support. However, COVID-19-related lockdown measures may have disrupted these support systems, with possible implications for mental health. Here, we use a cross-sectional analysis...

Objectives: The rise and fall of the health technology startup Theranos is emblematic of the promise and peril of point-of-care testing (POCT). Instruments that deliver immediate results from minimally invasive samples at the location of collection can provide powerful tools to deliver health data in clinical and public health contexts. Yet, POCT...

Background Leaving “home” to pursue fieldwork is a necessity but also a rite of passage for many biological anthropology/human biology scholars. Field-based scientists prepare for the potential changes to activity patterns, sleep schedules, social interactions, and more that come with going to the field. However, returning from extended fieldwork a...

Objective The Sausage of Science is a podcast for the Human Biology Association and the American Journal of Human Biology through which we introduced a special series called #Hackademics. The podcast was initially used to highlight the scholarship and humanity of fellow human biologists through interviews about “how the sausage is made” in research...

Previous archaeoparasitology research in the eastern United States suggests that parasitic infection was most widespread in urban areas and among communities of lower socioeconomic status, a pattern attributed to poor sanitation, dense populations of humans and animals, and limited medical care access. The present study documents parasitic disease...

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented rates of unemployment in the United States. Pregnant workers may be especially affected as they are over-represented in low-wage service and hospitality industries impacted by the pandemic. We surveyed an online convenience sample of currently working pregnant people living in the U.S. (n = 1,417) to d...

Markers of inflammation are increasingly important in population-based research, shedding light on variation in immune function and health from evolutionary and life history perspectives. Because human biologists often work in environments with limited electricity and cold storage access, more work should be devoted to evaluating point-of-care tech...

Objective Anemia is an important global health challenge. We investigate anemia prevalence among Indigenous Shuar of Ecuador to expand our understanding of population‐level variation, and to test hypotheses about how anemia variation is related to age, sex, and market integration. Methods Hemoglobin levels were measured in a total sample of 1650 S...

Significance Disgust likely evolved to regulate exposure to pathogen-related stimuli and behaviors. One key prediction, that individuals with greater pathogen disgust sensitivity (PDS) will be exposed to fewer pathogens and thus suffer fewer infections, has never been tested directly. To function adaptively, PDS must respond to the local cost/benef...

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted maternity care decisions, including plans to change providers or delivery location due to pandemic-related restrictions and fears. A relatively unexplored question, however, is how the pandemic may shape future maternity care preferences post-pandemic. Here, we use data collected from an online convenience survey...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected physical and mental health worldwide. Pregnant women already exhibit an elevated risk for depression compared to the general public, a pattern expected to be exacerbated by the pandemic. Certain lifestyle factors, including moderate exercise, may help support mental health during pregnancy, b...

Energetic investment in human reproduction has long been recognized as costly, influencing developmental, physiological, and behavioral patterns in males and females. These effects are largely coordinated through the actions of reproductive hormones (eg, testosterone, estradiol, and progesterone). Here, the utility and limitations of minimally inva...

The novel virus, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and the associated Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) represent a pathogen to which human beings have limited to no evolved immune response. The most severe symptoms are associated with overactive inflammatory immune responses, leading to a cytokine storm, tissue damage...

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented levels of unemployment and financial strain for many Americans. Among the individuals impacted by financial strain are pregnant women, for whom added financial stress may be particularly impactful due to the costs associated with prenatal care and providing for a newborn. Financial stress...

Purpose: To identify whether COVID-19-related changes to how long pregnant women planned to work in pregnancy were associated with depression. Methods: An online convenience sample of pregnant women in the U.S. were recruited in April-May 2020 (N = 1,970) through social media and dissemination to U.S.-based maternal health contacts. We used multiva...

Background Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections have many negative health outcomes (e.g., diarrhea, nutritional deficiencies) that can also exacerbate poverty. These infections are generally highest among low-income populations, many of which are also undergoing market integration (MI; increased participation in a market-based economy). Yet t...

Objectives Increasing obesity rates and accelerating climate change represent two global health challenges shaped by lifestyle change and human environmental modifications. Yet, few studies have considered how these issues may interact to exacerbate disease risk. Methods In this theory article, we explore evidence that obesity‐related disease and...

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of harmful conditions which occur together, such as insulin resistance, abdominal obesity, and hypertension. The global prevalence of MetS is growing rapidly, with some estimates suggesting over one billion people worldwide experience increased morality and disease rates linked with this syndrome. One possible...

Objectives: Little research exists documenting levels of intestinal inflammation among indigenous populations where exposure to macroparasites, like soil-transmitted helminths (STHs), is common. Reduced STH exposure is hypothesized to contribute to increased prevalence of elevated intestinal inflammation in wealthy nations, likely due to coevoluti...

Alterations in sleep patterns are common among older adults; further, short and long sleep durations have been linked with impaired cognitive performance in older individuals. Yet most research examining these relationships has been cross-sectional, limited to high-income nations, and has failed to consider how changes in sleep duration may impact...

Evidence suggests that cognitive decline in older adults is influenced by cardiovascular health (CVH), with metabolic and vascular mechanisms hypothesized to underlie the etiology of cognitive impairment. Research in high-income nations suggests that improved CVH is linked with decreased cognitive impairment risk, but it is unclear if this pattern...

Background: Physical function is positively associated with subjective well-being in older adults from high-income nations. This study tests whether this association is evident in low- and middle-income countries. Methods: Data were drawn from the Study on global AGEing and adult health, using nationally-representative samples of individuals ove...

Significance The energetic impact of immune function on human growth remains unclear. Using data from Amazonian forager-horticulturalists, we show that diverse, low-level immune activity predicts reduced childhood growth over periods of competing energy use ranging from 1 wk to 20 mo. We also demonstrate that modest body fat stores (i.e., energy re...

Economic development is marked by dramatic increases in the incidence of microbiome-associated diseases, such as autoimmune diseases and metabolic syndromes, but the lifestyle changes that drive alterations in the human microbiome are not known. We measured market integration as a proxy for economically related lifestyle attributes, such as ownersh...

Tapeworms are parasitic flatworms (class: Cestoidea). They differ from soil-transmitted helminths (STHs; class: Nematoda) in biology, physiology, and mode of transmission. Tapeworms are contracted through consumption of infected meat or fecally-contaminated foods, and can result in abdominal pain, diarrhea and nutritional deficiencies. Prior to 201...

In this paper, we examine patterns of self-reported diagnosis of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and prevalences of algorithm/measured test-based, undiagnosed, and untreated NCDs in China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Russia, and South Africa. Nationally representative samples of older adults aged ≥50 years were analyzed from wave 1 of the World Health Or...

Background Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infection peaks during childhood and varies by sex. The impact of market integration (MI) (increasing production for and consumption from a market-based economy) on these infection patterns, however, is unclear. In this study, STH infection is examined by sex and age among indigenous Shuar inhabiting two r...

Objectives: Perceived income adequacy is positively associated with self-rated health (SRH) and quality of life (QOL) among adults in higher-income countries. Additionally, older individuals often report higher levels of income adequacy. However, it is unclear if these associations, documented primarily in high-income countries, are also evident a...

Background: Market integration (MI)-increasing production for and consumption from a market-based economy-is drastically altering traditional ways of life and environmental conditions among indigenous Amazonian peoples. The effects of MI on the biology and health of Amazonian children and adolescents, however, remain unclear. Aim: This study exa...

Cognitive decline in older adults has been linked with decreased physical performance (Buchman et al., 2007; Wang et al., 2006), likely due to neurological changes that impair mobility but precede the onset of dementia (Marquis et al., 2002). Given that compromised physical function is often associated with dementia, clarifying the relationship bet...

Perceived income satisfaction appears to be positively associated with self-rated health (SRH) and quality of life (QOL). Additionally, older individuals often report higher levels of perceived income adequacy. However, it is unclear how income adequacy is associated with age, SRH, or QOL cross-culturally. Data were drawn from the World Health Org...

Objectives: Knemometry, the precise measurement of lower leg (LL) length, suggests that childhood short-term (e.g., weekly) growth is a dynamic, nonlinear process. However, owing to the large size and complexity of the traditional knemometer device, previous study of short-term growth among children has been restricted predominantly to clinical se...

Background: Self-reported (SR) body mass index (BMI) values are often used to determine obesity prevalence. However, individuals frequently overestimate their height and underestimate their weight, resulting in artificially lower obesity prevalence rates. These patterns are especially apparent among older adults and overweight individuals. The pre...

Self-reported (SR) body mass index (BMI) values are often used to determine obesity prevalence. However, individuals frequently overestimate their height and underestimate their weight, resulting in artificially lower obesity prevalence rates. These patterns are especially apparent among older adults and overweight individuals. The present cross-se...

Information concerning physical growth among small-scale populations remains limited, yet such data are critical to local health efforts and to foster basic understandings of human life history and variation in childhood development. Using a large dataset and robust modeling methods, this study aims to describe growth from birth to adulthood among...

Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are fast becoming the foremost contributors to disease burden in the low-middle income countries (LMICs). But, the health systems in majority of the LMICs are not adequately equipped for the management of NCDs particularly in the primary health care sector. Such inadequacies prevent early diagnosis of NC...

Individuals often overestimate their height while concomitantly underestimating their weight; this results in lower obesity prevalence rates when self-report data are used to calculate BMI, a pattern that has been observed in both sexes (Gorber et al., 2007; Nyholm et al., 2007). This misclassification of obesity due to inaccurate self-reported (SR...

Objectives. Changes in sleep patterns often occur in older adults. Previous studies have documented associations between sleep duration, sleep quality, and obesity risk in older individuals, yet few studies have examined these trends in lower-income countries. The present cross-sectional study uses nationally representative datasets from six countr...

Cassava beer, or chicha, is typically consumed daily by the indigenous Shuar people of the Ecuadorian Amazon. This traditional beverage made from cassava tuber (Manihot esculenta) is thought to improve nutritional quality and flavor while extending shelf life in a tropical climate. Bacteria responsible for chicha fermentation could be a source of m...

Background: Alterations in sleep architecture are common among older adults. Previous studies have documented associations between sleep duration, sleep quality, and cognitive performance in older individuals, yet few studies have examined these trends using population-based samples from non-Western societies. The present cross-sectional study use...

Abstract Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections can result in a variety of negative health outcomes (e.g., diarrhea, nutritional deficiencies). Market integration (MI; participation in market-based economies) has been suggested to alter levels of STH exposure due to associated changes in diet, sanitation, and behavior, but the effects are compl...

http://paa2014.princeton.edu/papers/143052 Recent epidemiological studies have identified depression as an important public health issue, affecting approximately 121 million people globally (Üstün et al., 2004; WHO, 2008). In 2004, depression was ranked as the third leading cause of disease worldwide based on disability adjusted life years (DALYs)...

Data from the Study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE), a longitudinal study of nationally-representative samples of older adults (>50 years old) in six middle income countries (China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Russia, and South Africa), was used to examine relationships among body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and depression (based...