title: Routine physical examination and forgone health care among Latino adolescent immigrants in the United States.
abstract: Knowledge concerning patterns of health care utilization among Latino-adolescent immigrants is needed to develop culturally-appropriate programs. The objectives of this study were to estimate the annual prevalence of having had a routine physical exam and episodes of adolescents' not seeking health care when they thought they should (forgone health care) among Latino adolescents by immigrant-generational status. Cross-sectional analysis of data from Latino adolescents in Wave I of the National Longitudinal Adolescent Health Study. First-generation immigrants who had lived in the U.S. < or = 5 years were less likely to receive routine care than third-generation immigrants (39.0% vs. 54.9%). This disparity decreased after adjustment for insurance status, parental education and poverty among Mexican origin adolescents. On average, 16.0% of first-generation immigrants who had lived in the U.S. < or = 5 years and 22.5% of third-generation immigrants reported forgoing health care. After adjustment for age, insurance status, parental education and routine care, recent arrivals were less likely than third-generation immigrants to forgo health care. Recent arrivals were less likely to receive a routine physical exam and to forgo care than third-generation immigrants. Future studies should explore the effect of acculturation on knowledge, beliefs and perceptions about health, illness and care-seeking behaviors.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7435, USA.
authors.forename: Olga L
authors.initials: OL
authors.lastname: Sarmiento
authors.forename: William C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Carol A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Ford
authors.forename: Victor J
authors.initials: VJ
authors.lastname: Schoenbach
authors.forename: Adaora A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Adimora
authors.forename: Claire I
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Viadro
authors.forename: Chirayath M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Suchindran
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010808:Physical Examination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011203:Poverty; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States