Biomedical subjects

Dana Fennell

Publications and source records attributed to Dana Fennell.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Ethnic variation in health and the determinants of health among Latinos.

The purpose of this research is to document and explain ethnic variation in health among Latino adults in the United States. Results of analyses of data pooled from the 1997-2001 National Health Interview surveys reveal that health patterns are clearly different among Latino ethnic groups. Mexicans have health advantages, whereas Puerto Ricans experience health disparities. Cubans and Dominicans reveal a mix of health disparities and advantages, depending on the health outcome. The effects of social determinants of health are also contingent upon ethnicity. For example, worse health is associated with higher levels of socioeconomic status (SES) and acculturation among Mexicans, but with lower levels of SES and acculturation among Latinos whose origins are from Caribbean islands. We conclude that racial/ethnic comparative health research should avoid pan-ethnic groupings, and explicitly acknowledge ethnic group distinctiveness.

Acculturation↗

PubMed2004

Determinants of supplement usage.

BACKGROUND: As the use of supplements is growing, this study examines the determinants of vitamin and herbal supplement usage. Instead of treating these as all-encompassing categories, they are broken into specific vitamins and herbs and compared to see if users are different. A measure of frequency of vitamin use is also created. METHODS: Logistic and ordinal logistic regressions are run on a sample of 24,834 from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) 2000. RESULTS: Women are generally more likely to use supplements than men. Non-Latino Whites are generally more likely to use supplements than non-Latino Blacks and Mexicans. However, despite these general trends, it proves fruitful to break up supplement use into smaller categories. The data provide some evidence that determinants vary by particular supplement. However, including a measure of frequency does not change the picture much. CONCLUSIONS: Considering this, more information is needed on why people use particular supplements and what their sources of information are.

Adolescent↗