No abstract

Food insecurity is a major social determinant of health and an assessment of how it may impact college students’ mental health is imperative, as well as differential associations by self-identified gender. A cross-sectional survey was used among college students of a mid-size minority-serving institution with a final sample size of 302 participants aged 18 years or above. Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariable regressions were conducted, by gender, to assess the role of food insecurity (United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) six-item questionnaire), on mental health outcomes (Kessler-6 scale and self-perception). All the statistical analyses were conducted in SPSS version 24 (IBM, Corp.; Armonk, NY, USA) with an alpha less than 0.05 used to denote significance. Among those with food insecurity, the odds of reporting psychological distress (odds ratio (OR) = 3.645, p < 0.05) and an average to very poor self-perceived mental health status (OR = 2.687, p <0.05) were higher compared to their food-secure counterparts, with the results consistent in a gender-specific analysis as well. Compared to men, however, women had higher odds of psychological distress (OR = 2.280, p < 0.05), as well as reporting average to very poor self-perceived mental health statuses (OR = 2.700, p < 0.05). Among women, any alcohol use in the past 12 months (OR = 2.505, p < 0.05) and a low self-perceived physical health status (OR = 3.601, p < 0.05) were associated with an average to very poor self-perceived mental health status. Among men, a low perceived physical health status was associated with higher odds of psychological distress (OR = 3.477, p < 0.05). The results of our study highlight that food insecurity should be considered a social determinant of mental health wellbeing. In addition, gender-specific trends in mental health highlight the need for targeted interventions for prevention and treatment.

Low health literacy is a significant barrier to healthcare access and service utilization; however, there are few studies that have evaluated the factors associated with having low health literacy, especially among immigrant minority populations. This exploratory study aimed to assess the key determinants of low health literacy among immigrant Hispanic adults in California using the California Health Interview Survey, the largest population-based state health survey in the United States. Analysis accounted for complex survey design, allowing generalizations to the entire state of California. Low health literacy was associated with living in poverty (OR = 1.63), lacking consistent health insurance (OR = 1.40), and limited English language proficiency (OR = 3.22), while women were less likely than men (OR = 0.59) to report low health literacy. The results of this study demonstrate that language proficiency, in addition to other key sociodemographic variables, can significantly posit limitations to health literacy. Future efforts should address providing linguistically competent health literacy interventions in order to improve associated health outcomes.

No abstract

We evaluated the association between Asian American ethnicity and age at diagnosis for type 2 diabetes using data from the California Health Interview Survey. Survey-weighted unadjusted and adjusted linear regressions were used to obtain mean estimates of age at diagnosis. In the adjusted regression model, ages at diagnosis were 10.5, 8.7, 8.4, and 4.2 years earlier among South Asian, Vietnamese, Filipino, and Korean populations, respectively, as compared to non-Hispanic whites; no significant difference in age at diagnosis was noted for Chinese and Japanese populations. Recommendations for diabetes screening and preventive measures specific to Asian American populations are warranted.