Social Inequalities in Multiple Chronic Disease Risk Factors among a population-based Sample of Latinas in California

ABSTRACT

Data from 1,248 Latina mothers who participated in the Geographic Research on Wellbeing (GROW) study were used to examine associations between SES, neighborhood-level Latinx concentration, neighborhood-level poverty and having two or more modifiable behavioral risk factors (e.g., smoking, drinking) for chronic disease. Logistic regression models were estimated stratified by nativity and adjusted for age and marital status. Among immigrants, low SES was associated with higher odds of multiple risk factors (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR] = 1.66, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] = 1.17–2.38). Among US-born women, low neighborhood-level Latinx concentration was associated with lower odds of multiple risk factors (AOR = 0.43, 95% CI = 0.22–0.84), and high neighborhood-level poverty (AOR = 2.83, 95% CI = 1.61–4.99) and low SES (AOR = 1.72, 95% CI = 1.02–2.92) were associated with higher odds, respectively. Heterogeneous effects between nativity and social factors may produce risk for chronic disease among Latinas.

KEYWORDS:

• Socioeconomic status
• Latinas
• health disparities
• chronic disease

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the American Cancer Society [RSGT-11-010-01-CPPB].