141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

291167
Social disparities in pre-hypertension and hypertension in colombian adults

Wednesday, November 6, 2013 : 11:15 AM - 11:30 AM

Diego Lucumi Cuesta, MD, MPH, PhD (c) , Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public Health University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Amy J. Schulz, PhD , Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI
Ana V. Diez Roux, MD, PhD , School of Public Health Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Andrew Grogan-Kaylor, MA, MSSW, PhD , University of Michigan School of Social Work, Ann Arbor, MI
Barbara Israel, DrPH MPH , Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan, School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI
Background: Hypertension is the main risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), the leading cause of death in Colombia. Research on hypertension in Colombia has traditionally focused on proximal risk factors; studies on prehypertension, an independent risk for CVD, are almost absent; and the social patterning of both pre-hypertension and hypertension has been little examined. This research offered a unique opportunity to: 1) examine ethnic/race and socioeconomic disparities in pre-hypertension and hypertension; and 2) examine variations in the magnitude and direction of the effect of indicators of socioeconomic position on pre-hypertension and hypertension.

Data and Methods. Data came from the Colombian National Survey of Health 2007, a nationally representative sample of the Colombian population. Sequential multinomial logistic regression models were fitted with normotensive, prehypertension and hypertension as dependent variables.

Results & Implications. Except for hypertension in black women, ethnicity/race was not a significant predictor for either pre-hypertension or hypertension. Indigenous populations did not have a lower risk of pre-hypertension or hypertension than mixed population. Education behaved in the expected direction (higher education, lower risk of pre-hypertension and hypertension). Renters had a lower risk of pre-hypertension or hypertension than owners. Markers of material resources and bio-behavioral risk factors partially mediated the association between education and pre-hypertension and hypertension in women.

Interventions for the prevention of pre-hypertension and hypertension in Colombia are likely to have limited impacts if they do not address fundamental causes of health. Interventions that improve educational levels offer some promise in reducing rates of pre-hypertension and hypertension in Colombia.

Learning Areas:
Epidemiology
Protection of the public in relation to communicable diseases including prevention or control
Public health or related education
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Identify ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in pre-hypertension and hypertension among Colombian adults. Identify the contribution of indicators of social position in the unequal distribution of pre-hypertension and hypertension in Colombia.

Keywords: Hypertension, Health Disparities

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been the principal and co-principal of different funded by national and international organizations focusing on chronic diseases. Currently, I working under supervision of my doctoral committee on understanding social disparities in hypertension in Colombia as an preliminary step for the development of interventions for its prevention and elimination of its disparities
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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