Preventive Medicine
Volume 127, 2019

Neighborhood immigrant density and population health among native-born Americans (Article)

Shi L. , Zhang D. , Rajbhandari-Thapa J. , Katapodis N. , Su D. , Li Y.*
  • a Public Health Science, College of Behavioral, Social and Health Science, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, United States
  • b Department of Health Policy and Management, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United States
  • c Department of Health Policy and Management, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United States
  • d Department of Health Policy and Management, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United States
  • e Department of Health Promotion, College of Public Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States
  • f Center for Health Innovation, The New York Academy of Medicine, New York, NY, United States, Department of Population Health Science and Policy, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States

Abstract

The healthy immigrant effect—whereby immigrants are on average healthier than the native-born—have been well studied. However, little is known about the relationship between immigration and the health of the native-born. This study fills this important research gap by examining the association between neighborhood immigrant density and several population health measures among native-born Americans. We used data from the Los Angeles County Health Survey to analyze four individual-level health behaviors and outcomes, including regular fast food consumption, fruit and vegetable consumption, body mass index, and hypertension. We conducted multilevel logistic regressions to assess the association between neighborhood immigrant density and the four health behaviors and outcomes. The results showed that neighborhood immigrant density was negatively associated with regular fast food consumption (OR = 0.33; 95% CI, 0.18–0.59), BMI (β = −2.16, 95% CI, −3.13 to −1.19), and hypertension (OR = 0.58; 95% CI, 0.38–0.89), and positively associated with fruit/vegetable consumption (OR = 1.64; 95% CI, 1.01–2.66) among native-born Americans. In conclusion, native-born Americans who lived in a neighborhood with a high density of immigrants had healthier behaviors and better health outcomes compared to those who lived in a neighborhood with a low density of immigrants. © 2019 Elsevier Inc.

Author Keywords

Urban health Chronic disease Immigrant health diet Neighborhood environment

Index Keywords

education immigrant regression analysis population health fruit vegetable correlation analysis human Health Behavior controlled study priority journal hypertension neighborhood fast food American California male female race Article household income adult outcome assessment ethnicity food intake body mass
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85070266308&doi=10.1016%2fj.ypmed.2019.105792&partnerID=40&md5=94f087e99b555370226d06c132506606
DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2019.105792
ISSN: 00917435
Original Language: English