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Hindi Research Article
Hypertension in a Low-income and Homeless Community Sample
Huckabay L1, Reynolds GL2,4*, Fisher DG3,4, Odell A1 and Dyo M11School of Nursing, California State University, Long Beach, USA
2Department of Health Care Administration, California State University, Long Beach, USA
3Department of Psychology, California State ZUniversity, Long Beach, USA
4Center for Behavioral Research and Services, California State University, Long Beach, USA
- *Corresponding Author:
- Grace L. Reynolds
Associate Professor, Department of Health Care
Administration, California State University, Long Beach, USA
E-mail: Grace.Reynolds@csulb.edu
Received date: January 15, 2016 Accepted date: February 16, 2016 Published date: February 29, 2016
Citation: Huckabay L, Reynolds GL, Fisher DG, Odell A, Dyo M (2016) Hypertension in a Low-income and Homeless Community Sample. J Community Med Health 6:399. doi:10.4172/2161-0711.1000399
Copyright: © 2016 Huckabay L, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background: Uncontrolled hypertension is a problem among many sub-populations of U.S. adults. Objective: To investigate hypertension in a low-income community sample of adults with a high proportion reporting homelessness.
Methods: Respondents (N = 478) completed a cardiovascular risk assessment (CVRA) with five subscales (social support, nutrition, physical activity, control and negative emotions) and the Risk Behavior Assessment (RBA) which collects demographic information as well as drug use and sexual risk behaviors.
Results: Findings showed that homeless individuals, and those who are married, divorced, or separated as opposed to being single, African-Americans, and women are at high risk for hypertension. A mediational model was developed using hypertension as the main outcome and the nutrition subscale of the CVRA as the mediator for homeless individuals. Results indicate that good nutrition (higher scores on the nutrition subscale) act as a protective mediator against hypertension for those who are homeless. The total mediated effect of nutrition on hypertension for the homeless was significant.
Conclusions: Improved nutrition may help prevent/reduce risk of hypertension among low income adults, especially those who are homeless.
