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Clark H. Denny, PhD, Deborah Holtzman, PhD, R. Turner Goins, PhD and Janet B. Croft, PhD

Clark H. Denny and Janet B. Croft are with the Cardiovascular Health Branch, Division of Adult and Community Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Ga. Deborah Holtzman is with the Office of the Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. R. Turner Goins is with the Center on Aging, West Virginia University, Morgantown.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Clark H. Denny, PhD, Cardiovascular Health Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy, NE, Mailstop K47, Atlanta, GA 30341 (e-mail: cdenny{at}cdc.gov).

	ABSTRACT

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We compared prevalence estimates of chronic disease risk factors and health status between American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) and White elders. We used 2001 and 2002 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data to estimate the prevalence of smoking, physical inactivity, obesity, diagnosed diabetes, and general health status. For all health behavior and status measures, American Indians/Alaska Natives reported greater risk than did Whites. Risk factors among AIAN elders need to be addressed to eliminate disparities in chronic diseases.

	INTRODUCTION

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Heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are the 3 leading causes of death for American Indians/Alaska Natives (AIAN) aged 55 or older (henceforth referred to as elders).¹ Chronic diseases such as these also negatively affect the general health status and quality of life of AIAN elders.² The burden of chronic diseases on AIAN communities will increase as the number of elders grows from approximately 310 000 in 2000 to 459 000 in 2010.³ Population-based estimates of chronic disease risk factors can be useful in developing interventions to prevent and control these diseases.⁴ Addressing chronic disease risk factors will help us reach the Healthy People 2010: Understanding and Improving Health goals of improving the quality of people’s lives, increasing their years of healthy life, and eliminating health disparities.⁵ The purpose of our study was to examine differences between AIAN elders and White elders on 5 health behavior and status measures with data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) for 2001 and 2002.

	METHODS

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The BRFSS is a continuous telephone survey conducted by state health departments in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to assess health behaviors primarily related to chronic disease and injury. A sample of noninstitutionalized adults (aged 18 years or older) is drawn through random-digit-dialing methods. Data are weighted to reflect both the respondent’s probability of selection and the race-, age-, and gender-specific population of the state. A detailed description of the survey is available elsewhere.^6,7

As noted earlier, we defined elders as persons aged 55 or older.⁸ Racial categorization was based on responses to the question, "What is your race?" Respondents who reported being American Indian or Alaska Native alone or in combination with another race or races were categorized as American Indians/Alaska Natives. (Sociodemographic characteristics of respondents who reported being American Indian/Alaska Native alone versus those who reported being American Indian/ Alaska Native in combination with other races are available from the authors on request).

The 5 health behavior and status measures examined are defined in Table 1. These 5 measures were chosen for this analysis because of their importance to chronic disease and because they were asked of every BRFSS respondent in both 2001 and 2002. Demographic measures of age, education, employment, geographic region, and urban or rural residence also were examined and used as control variables in multivariate logistic models. Annual household income was examined but not included in the modeling because 20% of the respondents did not know or refused to report their income. Because of the relatively small sample size of AIAN elders, we aggregated 2001 and 2002 BRFSS data from the 50 states and the District of Columbia, resulting in a sample of 3125 American Indians/Alaska Natives and 127 485 non-Hispanic Whites.

We calculated prevalence estimates and adjusted odds ratios for the 5 measures by race and by gender. Analyses were conducted with SUDAAN statistical software (Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, NC) to account for the complex survey design.

	RESULTS

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AIAN respondents were significantly (P < .01) more likely than White respondents to report being unable to work (15.4% vs 4.6%) and less likely to report retirement (48.2% vs 54.9%). Less than 12 years of education was reported by 29.3% of the American Indians/ Alaska Natives and 13.0% of the Whites (P < .01). An annual household income of less than $25 000 was reported by 42.1% of the AIAN respondents compared with 27.3% of the White respondents. The percentage of respondents living in metropolitan statistical areas was similar for both races (70.2% for American Indians/Alaska Natives and 73.3% for Whites).

Prevalence estimates for all 5 health behavior and status measures were higher among AIAN respondents than among White respondents (Table 2). The prevalence of current cigarette smoking among AIAN men was more than twice that for White men: 31.0% versus 14.6%. AIAN men (35.6%) also were much more likely than White men (25.6%) to report no leisure-time physical activity. The prevalence of obesity was approximately 50% higher among AIAN women than among White women, and the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes was almost twice as high. In addition, more than 41% of the AIAN women reported their general health as being fair or poor, compared with 24.0% of the White women. Except for no leisure-time physical activity among women and obesity among men, American Indians/Alaska Natives were significantly (P < .05) more likely than Whites to report all 5 health risk behavior and status measures after we controlled for age, education, employment, geographic region, and urban or rural residence.

	DISCUSSION

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The disparities we found between AIAN and White elders in self-perceived general health may be a result of the higher prevalence of heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic diseases among American Indians/ Alaska Natives.^2,18 Eliminating disparities in chronic disease between AIAN elders and other racial/ethnic groups will require monitoring and addressing the risk factors for those diseases.^19,20

	Acknowledgments

 
We acknowledge the contributions of the state Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System coordinators.

Human Participant Protection
No protocol or institutional review board approval was needed for this study because data were collected anonymously from a public health surveillance system in which adults voluntarily consented to telephone interviews.

	Footnotes

 
Peer Reviewed

Contributors
C. H. Denny planned the study, analyzed the data, and wrote the brief. D. Holtzman and J. B. Croft assisted with the design of the study and the writing of the brief. R. T. Goins assisted with the writing of the brief.

Accepted for publication August 11, 2004.

	References

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1. Trends in Indian Health 1998–99. Rockville, Md: Indian Health Service, US Dept of Health and Human Services; 2001.

2. Measuring Healthy Days: Population Assessment of Health-Related Quality of Life. Atlanta, Ga: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2000.

3. US Census Bureau. Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2002. 122nd ed. Washington, DC: US Census Bureau; 2002.

4. Remington PL, Goodman RA. Chronic disease surveillance. In: Brownson RC, Remington PL, Davis JR, eds. Chronic Disease Epidemiology and Control. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association; 1998:55–76.

5. Healthy People 2010: Understanding and Improving Health. Washington, DC: US Dept of Health and Human Services; 2001.

6. Holtzman D. The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. In: Blumenthal DS, DiClemente RJ, eds. Community-Based Health Research: Issues and Methods. New York, NY: Springer Publishers; 2004: 115–131.

7. Mokdad AH, Stroup DF, Giles WH. Public health surveillance for behavioral risk factors in a changing environment: recommendations from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Team. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2003;52(RR-9):1–12.[Medline]

8. Baldridge D. The elder Indian population and long-term care. In: Dixon M, Roubideaux Y, eds. Promises to Keep: Public Health Policy for American Indians and Alaska Natives in the 21st Century. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association; 2001: 137–164.

9. White AA. Response rate calculation in RDD telephone health surveys: current practices. In: American Statistical Association 1983 Proceedings of the Section on Survey Research Methods. Washington, DC: American Statistical Association; 1984: 277–282.

10. 2001 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Summary Data Quality Control Report. Atlanta, Ga: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2002.

11. 2002 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Summary Data Quality Control Report. Atlanta, Ga: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2003.

12. Falling Through the Net: Defining the Digital Divide. Washington, DC: National Telecommunications and Information Administration, US Dept of Commerce; 1999.

13. Ogunwole SU. The American Indian and Alaska Native Population: 2000. Washington, DC: US Dept of Commerce; 2002. Census 2002 Brief.

14. Denny CH, Holtzman D, Cobb N. Surveillance for health behaviors of American Indians and Alaska Natives: findings from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 1997–2000. MMWR Surveill Summ. 2003;52(SS-7):1–13.[Medline]

15. Welty TK, Lee ET, Yeh J, et al. Cardiovascular disease risk factors among American Indians: the Strong Heart Study. Am J Epidemiol. 1995;142: 269–287.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

16. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prevalence of diagnosed diabetes among American Indians/ Alaska Natives—United States, 1996. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1998;47:901–904.[Medline]

17. Burrows NR, Geiss LS, Engelgau MM, Acton KJ. Prevalence of diabetes among Native Americans and Alaska Natives, 1990–1997: an increasing burden. Diabetes Care. 2000;23:1786–1790.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

18. John R, Hennessy CH, Denny CH. Preventing chronic disease and disability among American Indian elders. In: Wykle ML, Ford AB, eds. Serving Minority Elders in the 21st Century. New York, NY: Springer Publishers; 1999:51–71.

19. Howard BV, Lee ET, Cowan LD, et al. Rising tide of cardiovascular disease in American Indians: the Strong Heart Study. Circulation. 1999;99: 2389–2395.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

20. Liao Y, Tucker P, Giles WH. Health status of American Indians compared with other racial/ethnic minority populations—selected states, 2001–2002. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2003;52: 1148–1152.[Medline]

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