Immigration disparities in cardiovascular disease risk factor awareness.
The association between immigration status and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factor awareness is unknown. Using physical examination-based data and participants' self-report of prior diagnosis, we assessed immigration-based disparities in awareness of diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and overweight among 12,124 participants in the 2003-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Unawareness of CVD risk factors is high among all groups, but tends to be higher among foreign-born English and non-English speaking participants than among US-born participants. After adjusting for demographic factors and access to health care, foreign-born participants appear more likely to be unaware of their hypertension and overweight than US-born participants. Immigrants are more likely than those born in the US to be unaware of their CVD risk factors, and therefore may be less motivated to seek treatment and modify their behavior to prevent negative CVD outcomes.
Department of Community Health Sciences, UCLA School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA, USA. blangell@ucla.edu
Brent A
BA
Langellier
Jeremiah R
JR
Garza
Deborah
D
Glik
Michael L
ML
Prelip
Ron
R
Brookmeyer
Christian K
CK
Roberts
Anne
A
Peters
Alexander N
AN
Ortega
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice / Q000208:ethnology*; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000208:ethnology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D044469:Racial Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult