ResearchResearch and Professional BriefHow Much of Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Dietary Intakes, Exercise, and Weight Status Can Be Explained by Nutrition- and Health-Related Psychosocial Factors and Socioeconomic Status among US Adults?
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Study Design and Subjects
A nationally representative multistage stratified sample of 16,103 noninstitutionalized persons aged 0 to 90 years residing in the United States participated in the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals (CSFII) 1994-1996 (14). Of the 16,103 CSFII 1994-1996 participants, 9,872 adults aged 20 years and older provided 1 to 2 days of dietary intake information in 24-hour recalls conducted 3 to 10 days apart. The 24-hour recalls utilized an automated
Results and Discussion
Table 1 shows that women, older Americans, those with higher SES (high education or high income), and people with comorbidities had better NHRPF and HEI (all P<0.001). There were some but small racial/ethnic differences in NHRPF. Non-Hispanic whites reported better awareness of nutrition-related health risks (score 6.04±0.04) than non-Hispanic blacks (5.58±0.10), Hispanics (5.49±0.11), and other racial/ethnic group members (5.78±0.15) (P<0.001). Overall, these NHRPF factors showed desirable
Conclusions
These US national survey data show that few of racial/ethnic differences in diet, exercise, and weight status were explained by health- and nutrition-related psychosocial factors, which is different from what we have expected, but SES explained considerable proportion; for example, 30% of the black–white difference in dietary quality and about 40% in overweight and obesity prevalence. However, the reduction in the white–black disparity for exercise participation was small (10%). The underlying
Y. Wang is an associate professor of international health and epidemiology, Department of International Health, Center for Human Nutrition, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
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Cited by (0)
Y. Wang is an associate professor of international health and epidemiology, Department of International Health, Center for Human Nutrition, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
X. Chen is an assistant scientist, Department of International Health, Center for Human Nutrition, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD