Preventive Health Behaviors among Hispanics: Comparing A US-Mexico Border Cohort and National Sample

Authors

Belinda Reininger, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public HealthFollow
Jing Wang, University of Texas Health Science Center at HoustonFollow
Stanley Cron, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of NursingFollow
Susan P. Fisher-Hoch, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public HealthFollow

Abstract

Purpose: Adherence to preventive health behaviors for chronic diseases would avert 80% of all heart disease, stroke, type II diabetes, and more than 40% of cancer cases. The purpose of this study is to describe the preventive health behaviors for chronic diseases among Mexican Americans residing along U.S.-Mexico border and in the U.S.

Method: Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were conducted on two rich data sets for Mexican Americans. The first data set (n=1439) was from the Cameron County Hispanic Cohort (CCHC), a prospective cohort study of Mexican American adults aged 18 years and older living in a large and poor city along the Texas- Mexico border. The second data set was the Hispanic Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) for 2009, a national random sample telephone survey (n=30075).

Results:In the CCHC, the sample (67.06% female) has a mean age of 48.06 ± 15.60 years, 48.81% employed, 45.66% has less than high school education, 77.57% chose to complete the survey in Spanish, and 31.65% has some type of public or private insurance. In the Hispanic BRFSS data, there were 63.59% female with mean age of 48.34± 16.87 years, 30.47% have less than high school education, 49.02% employed, and 44.96% chose the Spanish language survey. We found more than 70% of Mexican Americans in the BRFSS data are overweight or obese, and more than 85% of the Mexican Americans along the border are overweight or obese. Less than 45% of Mexican Americans in either sample meet physical activity guidelines, and less than 25% in either sample meet fruit and vegetable daily intake guidelines. Statistically significantly fewer Mexican Americans along the US Mexico border meet either guideline compared to Mexican Americans sampled nationally (p

Conclusions: Nationally, but particularly true among Mexican Americans along the Texas-Mexico border, the majority of Mexican Americans had poor preventive health behaviors and are at risk for multiple non-communicable chronic diseases.

Recommended Citation

Reininger, Belinda; Wang, Jing; Cron, Stanley; and Fisher-Hoch, Susan P. (2012) "Preventive Health Behaviors among Hispanics: Comparing A US-Mexico Border Cohort and National Sample," International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings: Vol. 6: Iss. 2, Article 19.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/ijesab/vol6/iss2/19