Dataset Information

The effects of lifestyle change on indicators of cardiometabolic health in semi-nomadic pastoralists.

ABSTRACT:

Background and objectives

Non-communicable disease risk and the epidemic of cardiometabolic diseases continue to grow across the expanding industrialized world. Probing the relationships between evolved human physiology and modern socioecological conditions is central to understanding this health crisis. Therefore, we investigated the relationships between increased market access, shifting subsistence patterns and cardiometabolic health indicators within Daasanach semi-nomadic pastoralists who vary in their engagement in traditional lifestyle and emerging market behaviors.

Methodology

We conducted cross-sectional socioecological, demographic and lifestyle stressor surveys along with health, biomarker and nutrition examinations among 225 (51.6% female) Daasanach adults in 2019-2020. We used linear mixed-effects models to test how differing levels of engagement in market integration and traditional subsistence activities related to blood pressure (BP), body composition and blood chemistry.

Results

We found that systolic and diastolic BP, as well as the probability of having high BP (hypertension), were negatively associated with distance to market, a proxy for market integration. Additionally, body composition varied significantly by socioeconomic status (SES), with significant positive associations between BMI and body fat and higher SES among adults.

Conclusions and implications

While evidence for evolutionary mismatch and health variation have been found across a number of populations affected by an urban/rural divide, these results demonstrate the effects of market integration and sedentarization on cardiometabolic health associated with the early stages of lifestyle changes. Our findings provide evidence for the changes in health when small-scale populations begin the processes of sedentarization and market integration that result from myriad market pressures.

SUBMITTER: Swanson ZS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10576223 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

The effects of lifestyle change on indicators of cardiometabolic health in semi-nomadic pastoralists.

Swanson Zane S ZS Bethancourt Hilary H Nzunza Rosemary R Ndiema Emmanuel E Braun David R DR Rosinger Asher Y AY Pontzer Herman H

Evolution, medicine, and public health 20230925 1

<h4>Background and objectives</h4>Non-communicable disease risk and the epidemic of cardiometabolic diseases continue to grow across the expanding industrialized world. Probing the relationships between evolved human physiology and modern socioecological conditions is central to understanding this health crisis. Therefore, we investigated the relationships between increased market access, shifting subsistence patterns and cardiometabolic health indicators within Daasanach semi-nomadic pastoralis ...[more]

PMID: 37841024

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Dataset Information

The effects of lifestyle change on indicators of cardiometabolic health in semi-nomadic pastoralists.

Background and objectives

Methodology

Results

Conclusions and implications

Publications

The effects of lifestyle change on indicators of cardiometabolic health in semi-nomadic pastoralists.

Similar Datasets

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