Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jan;25(1):65-78.
doi: 10.1080/13557858.2017.1395812. Epub 2017 Nov 2.

Racial-ethnic disparities in self-reported health status among US adults adjusted for sociodemographics and multimorbidities, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2011-2014

Krupa Gandhi  1 , Eunjung Lim  1 , James Davis  1 , John J Chen  1
Affiliations

Racial-ethnic disparities in self-reported health status among US adults adjusted for sociodemographics and multimorbidities, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2011-2014

Krupa Gandhi et al. Ethn Health. 2020 Jan.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate racial-ethnic disparities in self-reported health status adjusting for sociodemographic factors and multimorbidities.Design: A total of 9499 adult participants aged 20 years and older from the United States (US); reported by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a cross-sectional survey - for years 2011-2014. The main outcome measure was self-reported health status categorized as excellent/very good, good (moderate), and fair/poor.Results: Of the NHANES participants, 40.7% reported excellent/very good health, 37.2% moderate health and 22.1% fair/poor health. There were 42.8% who were non-Hispanic whites, 20.2% were Hispanic, 23.8% were non-Hispanic blacks, and 13.2% were non-Hispanic Asians. Compared to non-Hispanic whites, Hispanics [Odds Ratio (OR) = 2.91, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 2.28-3.71] and non-Hispanic blacks [OR = 1.51, 95% CI = 1.26-1.83] were more likely to report fair/poor health, whereas, non-Hispanic Asians [OR = 1.42, 95% CI = 1.14-1.76] were more likely to report moderate health than excellent/very good health. Compared to those with no chronic conditions, participants with two or three chronic conditions [OR = 9.35, 95% CI = 7.26-12.00] and with four or more chronic conditions [OR = 38.10, 95% CI = 26.50-54.90] were more likely to report fair/poor health than excellent/very good health status.Conclusion: The racial-ethnic differences in self-reported health persisted even after adjusting for sociodemographics and number of multimorbidities. The findings highlight the potential importance of self-reported health status and the need to increase health awareness through health assessment and health-promotional programs among the vulnerable minority US adults.

Keywords: NHANES; multimorbidities; racial-ethnic disparities; self-reported health status.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure statement: None of the authors identify any conflict of interest and has no financial interest related to this paper.

References

    1. Antecol H, & Bedard K (2006). Unhealthy Assimilation: Why Do Immigrants Converge to American Health Status Levels? Demography, 43(2), 337–360. - PubMed
    1. Balasubramanian BA, Garcia MP, Corley DA, Doubeni CA, Haas JS, Kamineni A, … Skinner CS (2017). Racial/ethnic differences in obesity and comorbidities between safety-net- and non safety-net integrated health systems. Medicine, 96(11), e6326. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000006326 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baldassari AR, Cleveland RJ, Luong M-LN, Jonas BL, Conn DL, Moreland LW, … Callahan LF (2016). Socioeconomic factors and self-reported health outcomes in African Americans with rheumatoid arthritis from the Southeastern United States: the contribution of childhood socioeconomic status. BMC musculoskeletal disorders, 17(1), 10. doi: 10.1186/s12891-016-0882-5 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Banerjee D, Perry M, Tran D, & Arafat R (2010). Self-reported health, functional status and chronic disease in community dwelling older adults: untangling the role of demographics. J Community Health, 35(2), 135–141. doi: 10.1007/s10900-009-9208-y - DOI - PubMed
    1. Barry Hultquist T, Laux Kaiser K, & Rajaram S (2015). Factors Related to Self-Reported Health Status in Low Income Midlife Women. Women & Health, 55(4), 378–399. doi: 10.1080/03630242.2015.1022684 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources