2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo

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Recorded Annual Meeting Presentations (RAMP) are now available for purchase.
Only $90 for presenters, $140 for registered attendees and $200 for non-attendees.

Online Program

331339
Racial and ethnic disparities in unintentional and intentional injury risk behaviors


Monday, November 2, 2015 : 1:30 p.m. - 1:50 p.m.

Shumei Yun, MD, PhD, Office of Epidemiology, Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, Jefferson City, MO
Noaman Kayani, PhD, Office of Epidemiology, Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, Jefferson City, MO
Sarah Geiger, PhD, MS, School of Health Studies, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL
Janet Wilson, MEd, MPA, Office of Epidemiology, Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, Jefferson City, MO
purpose: To explore racial and ethnic disparities in the risk behaviors leading to unintentional and intentional injury among Missouri high school students.

methods: The 2013 Missouri Youth Risk Behavior Survey data were used in this study. The prevalence of 10 risk behaviors for unintentional and intentional injuries was compared among racial and ethnic groups. Multivariate logistic regressions were used to control for demographic characteristics of respondents.

results: Compared to non-Hispanic white students in Missouri, significantly higher percentages of Hispanic students rode with someone who drank alcohol (35.7% vs 17.4%), never/rarely wore a seat belt when riding in a car driven by someone else (23.9% vs 9.8%), were injured in a physical fight in the past 30 days (16.5% vs 8.0%), were forced to have unwanted sexual intercourse (16.6% vs 8.5%), were physically hurt by someone they were dating (19.6% vs 7.8%), felt sad or hopeless (40.2% vs 25.5%), considered suicide (23.0% vs 14.2%), and planned suicide (20.0% vs 12,2%). Compared to non-Hispanic black students, significantly higher percentages of Hispanic students carried weapons in the past 30 days (25.1% vs 12.2%), considered suicide (23.0% vs 11.4%), and planned suicide (20.0% vs 7.4%). After age, sex adjustment, all above differences were significant except for the prevalence of carrying weapons.

conclusions: There is a significantly higher prevalence of risky behavior among Hispanic high school students that could lead to unintentional and/or intentional injuries. Public health programs and policy makers should consider these risk behaviors when designing interventions and policies to address the injury issue.

Learning Areas:

Epidemiology

Learning Objectives:
Describe the significant racial and ethnic disparities in risk behaviors that could lead to intentional and unintentional injuries among high school students in Missouri Explain the paradox of racial disparities in risk behaviors and injury outcomes among high school age children in Missouri

Keyword(s): Epidemiology

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have presented multiple research projects at national and international conferences focused on public health epidemiology. I have first-authored and co-authored multiple papers published in peer-reviewed, Pubmed-indexed, epidemiologic journals.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3249.0: Social/Behavior Epidemiology and Epidemiology of Health Disparities