A comparison of health behaviors between African Americans with spinal cord injury and those in the general population.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study is to identify whether protective and risk health behaviors are more common among African Americans with spinal cord injury (SCI) compared with African Americans in the general population.


METHODS
Mail-in surveys were collected from 252 adult participants with SCI. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data from 2009 was downloaded.


RESULTS
Participants with SCI were more likely to report currently smoking. Among those who reported currently smoking, persons with SCI were less likely to report ever trying to quit. Those with SCI were also more likely to report consuming alcohol and binge drinking in the past month. Participants with SCI were more likely to receive a flu shot/spray in the past year and to have ever received a pneumonia vaccine. Conversely, those with SCI were less likely to report ever having their blood cholesterol checked.


CONCLUSIONS
Results of this study suggest that, consistent with previous research, individuals with SCI focused their preventive health behaviors on conditions consistent with SCI prophylactic standard of care (e.g., flu shots and pneumonia vaccines), as compared to behaviors intended to prevent chronic diseases consistent with the overall population.
Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA.
Lee L
LL
Saunders
Ene
E
Ekoja
Chelsea S
CS
Whitlock
Nicole D
ND
DiPiro
Rosalind
R
Gregory-Bass
James S
JS
Krause
D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D040343:Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System; D018672:Community Health Planning; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012309:Risk-Taking; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*
Spinal cord injury; behaviors; disparities; prevention; risk