Due to its strong association and high prevalence with cardiovascular disease and premature death, hypertension, or high blood pressure, showcases a consequential public health challenge in the United States. While evidence suggests an association between socioeconomic status and hypertension prevalence, few have yet to explore this relationship in the United States subpopulations of non-white women. Our study seeks to investigate the association between annual household income and hypertension among a representative sample of US non-white adult women in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2017-2018 dataset, a cross-sectional survey using stratified multistage probability cluster sampling of the United States civilian population. We hypothesized that the prevalence of hypertension will be lower among high-income household white women when compared to their non-white counterparts. Further, we also expected that the prevalence of hypertension will be lower among white women of low- and middle-income households in comparison to their non-white counterparts. To evaluate this, we utilized data from the 2017-2018 NHANES; the analytic sample includes 2,724 adult women, measuring our independent variables as race-ethnicity and total annual household income of participants, with hypertension being our outcome variable. Data analysis was performed using Statistical Analysis Software (SAS), conducting a multiple binary logistic regression analysis. Interpretation of this output led to the observation of statistical significance between the prevalence of hypertension and annual household income and race-ethnicity. Our findings conclude an increased risk of hypertension associated with annual household incomes below $55,000. In addition, compared to non-Hispanic White women, non-Hispanic Black women and Hispanic women have a 70% and 42% chance of hypertension, respectively. With real-world data and applications, our work adds to the body of knowledge surrounding health for individuals of minoritized racial-ethnic groups and economically disadvantaged populations, serving as a call for attention towards these critical health needs and concerns. This project bears heavy significance to our intended careers as physician-scientists and public health professionals.
Authors: Rakhsha Khatri, Valerie Thompson
Faculty Advisor: Saruna Ghimire MPH, Ph.D., department of Sociology and Gerontology
You must be logged in to post a comment.