Exploring Diet, Physical Activity, and Self-Reported Health Status Among Individuals in the Medically Underserved Population

The primary purpose of this study is to determine if certain lifestyle and health behaviors (e.g. smoking, physical activity, diet) in the medically underserved population have any influence on particular health statuses. This study also looked to determine if these health behaviors resulted in particular medical aliments being more prevalent or specific to this community. The secondary purpose of this study aims to gain information that may help health care providers practicing in this community to earlier identify risk factors in patients before a medical problem becomes more severe, difficult and expensive to treat. A survey, adapted from the CDC\u27s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), was created to allow for the collection of descriptive statistical data. The survey contains questions on the various topics of diet, physical activity, chronic diseases, and self-perception of overall health status. The survey was distributed to 20 older adult participants at Hebni Nutrition, LLC, all from disadvantaged backgrounds. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Of the 20 surveys collected, about half of the respondents reported consuming close to the recommended fruit and vegetable servings and participating in regular physical activity. Furthermore, the participants reported rates of diabetes and hypertension well above average. This study\u27s results were inconclusive as to whether any specific health behaviors among medically underserved individuals influence the prevalence of chronic diseases in this population; more likely a combination of many factors and overall poorer health habits that persist over a lifetime are contributors to chronic diseases among the medically underserved population

Socioeconomic status and asthma control in African American youth in SAGE II

OBJECTIVE: African Americans are disproportionately burdened by asthma. We assessed the individual and joint contribution of socioeconomic status (SES) on asthma morbidity among African American youth. METHODS: We examined 686 African Americans (8–21 years) with asthma. To account for the joint effects of SES, a composite index was derived from maternal educational attainment, household income, and insurance status. Ordinal logistic regression was used to estimate the individual and joint effect of SES on asthma control. Models were adjusted for age, sex, controller medication use, in utero smoke exposure, family history of asthma, family history of rhinitis, breastfeeding, daycare attendance, and mold exposure. RESULTS: Participants were classified as Poorly Controlled Asthma (40.8%), Partially Controlled Asthma (29.7%), or Controlled Asthma (30.2%). Of the individual SES indicators, low income was the strongest predictor of poor asthma control. Children with low income had worse asthma control than those with higher income (OR 1.39; 95%CI 0.92–2.12). The SES index ranged from 4–9. SES was associated with 17% increased odds of poor asthma control with each decrease in the index (95%CI 1.05–1.32). The SES index was associated with asthma-related symptoms, nocturnal awakenings, limited activity, and missed school days. CONCLUSIONS: The negative effects of SES were observed along the entire socioeconomic gradient, and the adverse asthma outcomes observed in African American youth were not limited to the very poor. We also found that the SES index may be a more consistent and useful predictor of poor asthma outcomes than each indicator alone