The impact of ethnicity, family income, and parental education on children's health and use of health services.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: This study characterized ethnic disparities for children in demographics, health status, and use of services; explored whether ethnic subgroups (Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Mexican) have additional distinctive differences; and determined whether disparities are explained by differences in family income and parental education. METHODS: Bivariate and multivariate analyses of data on 99,268 children from the 1989-91 National Health Interview Surveys were conducted. RESULTS: Native American, Black, and Hispanic children are poorest (35%, 41% below poverty level vs 10% of Whites), least healthy (66%-74% in excellent or very good health vs 85% of Whites), and have the least well educated parents. Compared with Whites, non-White children average fewer doctor visits and are more likely to have excessive intervals between visits. Hispanic subgroup differences in demographics, health, and use of services equal or surpass differences among major ethnic groups. In multivariate analyses, almost all ethnic group disparities persisted after adjustment for family income, parental education, and other relevant covariates. CONCLUSIONS: Major ethnic groups and subgroups of children differ strikingly in demographics, health, and use of services; subgroup differences are easily overlooked; and most disparities persist even after adjustment for family income and parental education.

Household exposure factors, asthma, and school absenteeism in a predominantly Hispanic community

“…In contrast, Mexican children were less likely to have an asthma diagnosis and the rates for these children were nearly at the national norm. This finding is consistent with observations from other studies (Mendoza et al, 1991;Flores et al, 1999). Our study found that the Mexican children were reported to have both fewer symptoms and lower rates of ETS and pets than other groups.…”

Positive Parenting Practices, Health Disparities, and Developmental Progress

“…[30][31][32][33][34][35][36] Sociodemographic variables included the child's age, gender, race/ethnicity, and insurance status. All these variables were originally categorical in NSCH, and we further grouped their categories for our study.…”

Health‐related quality of life in children with sickle cell disease: child and parent perception

“…Because of the limited data on what factors may impact the HRQL of a child with sickle cell disease, a stepwise regression analysis was used as an exploratory tool to identify potentially important patient and disease factors associated with HRQL. The variables displayed in Tables I and II, all shown to affect HRQL previously (Flores et al, 1999;Asmussen et al, 2000;Kahn et al, 2002;Palermo et al, 2002;Mansour et al, 2003), were examined in the stepwise regression model as independent variables to determine their influence on HRQL.…”

“…To gain a better understanding of HRQL in children with chronic illness, it is necessary to determine what factors influence HRQL. Among children with a chronic illness, HRQL is associated with the severity of their disease status as well as demographic factors (Flores et al, 1999;Asmussen et al, 2000;Kahn et al, 2002;Palermo et al, 2002;Schwimmer et al, 2003). In sickle cell disease, the factors that may impact the child's HRQL need to be explored further -only one prior study has examined such variables (Palermo et al, 2002).…”