Nativity and Health Disparities: Predictors of Immigrant Health

Trends in sleep duration in the U.S. from 2004 to 2018: A decomposition analysis

Average sleep duration in the United States declined in recent years, and the decline may be linked with many biopsychosocial factors. We examine how a set of biopsychosocial factors have differentially contributed to the temporal trends in self-reported sleep duration across racial groups between 2004-2005 and 2017-2018. Using repeated nationally representative cross-sections from the National Health Interview Survey, we decompose the influence of biopsychosocial factors on sleep duration trends into two components. One component corresponds to coefficient changes (i.e., changes in the associations between behaviors or exposures and sleep duration) of key biopsychosocial factors, and the other part accounts for the compositional changes (i.e., changes in the distributions of exposures) in these biopsychosocial factors during the study period. We reveal that changes in the coefficients of some biopsychosocial factors are more important than compositional changes in explaining the decline in sleep duration within each racial/ethnic group. Our findings highlight racial differences manifest across multiple biopsychosocial domains that are shifting in terms of association and composition. Methodologically, we note that the standard regression approach for analyzing temporal trends neglects the role of coefficient changes over time and is thus insufficient for fully capturing how biopsychosocial factors may have influenced the temporal patterns in sleep duration and related health outcomes.

Divergent Immigrant Health Trajectories: Disparities in Physical Health Using a Multidimensional Conceptualization of Legal Status

Immigrant health research demonstrates that foreign-born individuals generally experience lower morbidity rates relative to native-born individuals. However, this research often overlooks structural factors that influence the immigrant experience, such as legal status. The present study examines legal status as a multidimensional and dynamic characteristic that shapes immigrant health over time. I use two waves of the New Immigrant Survey (n = 3550) to assess if three dimensions of legal status — initial documentation classification, legal permanent residence (LPR) admission category, and US citizenship — predict likelihoods of reporting a chronic condition among a sample of immigrants who attained LPR. Results indicate that each of the three dimensions of legal status predicted health. Immigrants who obtained US citizenship improved their relative health over time, while immigrants with previous temporarily documented, undocumented, legalization, or refugee experience exhibited persistent disadvantage in the hierarchy of immigrant health. Findings demonstrate that the sociopolitical context continually shapes the physical health of immigrants, and a dynamic and multidimensional conceptualization of legal status can expose previously obscured disparities in the overarching pattern of an immigrant health advantage.

Inequalities in Exposure to Ambient Air Neurotoxicants and Disparities in Markers of Neurodevelopment in Children by Maternal Nativity Status

Exposure levels to environmental pollutants vary significantly among different populations. These inequities in exposure to hazardous air pollutants (HAP) among different populations can contribute to disparities in neurodevelopmental outcomes. The aim of this study was to determine if exposure to HAP varies by maternal nativity status, a demographic marker often overlooked in the study of health disparities. We also assessed if those inequalities in exposure levels are associated with neurodevelopmental measures in young children. To do this, we obtained data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth cohort (ECLS-B), a nationally representative sample of children born in the U.S. in the year 2001 (n = 4750). Bayley’s Short Form-Research Edition (BSF-R) was used to measure cognitive development at 2 years of age. Using residential location at nine months of age, participants were assigned exposures to ten HAPs identified as potentially neurotoxic. Linear regression models were used to assess the joint effect of maternal nativity status and HAP exposure on neurodevelopment. Results showed inequities in exposure levels to ten different HAPs among the populations, as approximately 32% of children of foreign-born mothers were exposed to high levels of HAPs, compared to 21% of children born to U.S.-born mothers. Adjusting for socioeconomic factors, both isophorone exposure (a marker of industrial pollution) (−0.04, 95% CI, −0.12, 0.04) and maternal nativity status (−0.17, 95% CI, −0.27, −0.06) were independently associated with lower standardized BSF-R mental scores in children. Interaction between nativity status and isophorone was not statistically significant, but the change in mental scores associated with isophorone exposure was greater in children of foreign-born mothers compared to children of U.S.-born mothers (−0.12, vs. −0.03, p = 0.2). In conclusion, exposure to HAPs within the highest quartile was more commonly found among children of foreign-born mothers as compared to children of US-born mothers, indicating inequities in pollutant exposure by nativity status within urban populations. Exposures associated with nativity status may negatively contribute to children’s neurodevelopment.

Opposite educational gradients in sleep duration between Black and White adults, 2004-2018

OBJECTIVES

To investigate the heterogeneous effects of education on sleep duration for Black and White adults and how the education effects changed between 2004 and 2018.

METHODS

A total of 251,994 adult participants in the 2004 to 2018 National Health Interview Survey were included in pooled cross-sectional data analyses. Separately for Black and White men and women, we calculated prevalence ratio and average marginal probability of short sleep (<7 hours) for each education level over the study period based on weighted logistic regression models.

RESULTS

Opposite educational gradients in short sleep were observed between Black and White adults. Greater educational attainment was associated with lower likelihood of short sleep among White adults but higher likelihood of short sleep among Black adults. Such heterogeneous educational gradients were robust after accounting for a set of socioeconomic, family, and health factors and persisted between 2004 and 2018.

CONCLUSIONS

The health implications of education are not uniform in the US population, and heterogeneous education effects on sleep duration persisted over the past decade. More scholarly attention is needed to identify challenges and barriers that may be unique for race, sex, and education subpopulations to maintain healthy sleep.

Effect of a Mediterranean Diet-Based Nutritional Intervention on the Risk of Developing Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and Other Maternal-Fetal Adverse Events in Hispanic Women Residents in Spain

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is the most frequent morbidity found in pregnancy, and it increases the risk for several maternal-fetal complications. Hispanic women are considered at high risk. The St. Carlos GDM prevention study is a randomized controlled trial (RCT) conducted from 2016–2017. Normoglycemic women were randomized at 12–14 Gestation week (WG) to an intervention group (IG) receiving recommendations based on the MedDiet (supplemented with ExtraVirgin Olive Oil/pistachios), or to a control group (CG), recommended to limit fat intake. After RCT conclusion, IG recommendations were applied to a real-world group (RW) in routine clinical practice. The primary endpoint of the current study is an assessment of the GDM rate in Hispanic participants of the aforementioned studies: 132 RCT, 128 CT, 284 RW participants. The GDM rate was lower in IG: 19/128(14.8%), p = 0.021, and RW: 38/284(13.4%), p = 0.029) than in CG: 34/132(25.8%). Adjusted RR (95%CI) for GDM: 0.72 (0.50–0.97), p = 0.037 in IG and 0.77 (0.61–0.97), p = 0.008 in RW. Rates of urinary tract infections, emergency caesarean-sections and perineal trauma were also lower in IG and RW. Other adverse outcomes were lower in IG vs. CG. In conclusion, a MedDiet-based intervention reduces the rate of GDM and several adverse maternal-fetal outcomes in Hispanic women residing in Spain.

Advocating for Immigration Policies that Promote Children's Health

Immigration laws and policies, as well as related media and public discourse, have a direct and significant effect on the health and well-being of children and families. The purpose of this article is to identify the impact of family immigration status and immigration laws on children's health, to understand the legal system that immigrant children face, and to describe opportunities for health care professionals to engage in advocacy at the systems level, from the local community to Capitol Hill.

Decomposing the causes of socioeconomic-related health inequality among urban and rural populations in China: a new decomposition approach

BACKGROUND

In recent decades, China has experienced tremendous economic growth and also witnessed growing socioeconomic-related health inequality. The study aims to explore the potential causes of socioeconomic-related health inequality in urban and rural areas of China over the past two decades.

METHODS

This study used six waves of the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) from 1991 to 2006. The recentered influence function (RIF) regression decomposition method was employed to decompose socioeconomic-related health inequality in China. Health status was derived from self-rated health (SRH) scores. The analyses were conducted on urban and rural samples separately.

RESULTS

We found that the average level of health status declined from 1989 to 2006 for both urban and rural populations. Average health scores were greater for the rural population compared with those for the urban population. We also found that there exists pro-rich health inequality in China. While income and secondary education were the main factors to reduce health inequality, older people, unhealthy lifestyles and a poor home environment increased inequality. Health insurance had the opposite effects on health inequality for urban and rural populations, resulting in lower inequality for urban populations and higher inequality for their rural counterparts.

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest that an effective way to reduce socioeconomic-related health inequality is not only to increase income and improve access to health care services, but also to focus on improvements in the lifestyles and the home environment. Specifically, for rural populations, it is particularly important to improve the design of health insurance and implement a more comprehensive insurance package that can effectively target the rural poor. Moreover, it is necessary to comprehensively promote the flush toilets and tap water in rural areas. For urban populations, in addition to promoting universal secondary education, healthy lifestyles should be promoted, including measures such as alcohol control.