Research Article

Impact of Comorbidities on Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Hypertension in the United States

Table 1

Characteristics of study participants by race/ethnicity, National Health Interview Survey.

VariableCaucasiansHispanicsAfrican AmericansOthers (df)
no. (%)no. (%)no. (%)no. (%)

Age (yrs)927.7 (3)<0.001
 <507,244 (35.9)3,125 (57.7)1,878 (45.1)585 (53.2)
 ≥5012,925 (64.1)2,291 (42.3)2.290 (54.9) 514 (46.8)
Sex63.7 (3)<0.001
 Male8,955 (44.4) 2,392 ( 44.2) 1,578 (37.9) 502 (45.7)
 Female11,214 (55.6) 3,024 ( 55.8) 2,590 (62.1) 597 (54.3)
Education1840 (6)<0.001
 <HS8,672 ( 43.0) 3,852 (71.2)2,257 (54.1) 368 (33.5)
 HS6,090 (30.2) 1,046 (19.3) 1,278 (30.7) 277 (25.2)
 College3,559 (17.6) 352 (6.5)444 (10.7)259 (23.6)
 Graduate1,848 (9.2) 166 (3.1)189 (4.5)195 (17.4)
Income (US$)772.3 (3)<0.001
 <20,0005,547 (27.5) 2,290 (42.3) 1,872 (44.9) 301 (27.4)
 ≥20,00014,622 (72.5) 3,126 (57.7) 2,296 (55.1) 798 (72.6)
Marital status 744.0 (3)<0.001
 Nonmarried9,407 (46.6) 2,566 (47.4) 2,895 (69.5) 505 (46.0)
 Married10,762 (53.4) 2,850 (52.6) 1,273 (30.5) 594 (54.0)
Insurance coverage4.40 (3)0.22
 No2,164 (10.7) 617 (11.4)451 (10.8)103 (9.4)
 Yes18,005 (89.3) 4,799 (88.6) 3,717 (89.2) 996 (90.6)
Smoking673.9 (3)<0.001
 No10,503 (52.1) 3,786 (69.9) 2,596 (62.3) 752 (68.4)
 Yes9,666 (47.9) 1,630 (30.1) 1,572 (37.7) 347 (31.6)
Alcohol957.6 (3)<0.001
 No16,211 (80.4) 3,465 (64.0) 2,795 (67.1) 644 (58.6)
 Yes3,958 (19.6) 1,951 (36.0) 1,373 (32.9) 455 (41.4)
Exercise182.0 (3)<0.001
 No14,353 (71.2) 4,329 (79.9) 3,143 (75.4) 776 (70.6)
 Yes5,816 (28.8) 1,087 (20.1) 1,025 (24.6) 323 (29.4)
BMI575.3 (6)<0.001
 <18.5421 (2.2) 62 (1.2)47 (1.2)53 (5.1)
 18.5–24.97,812 (40.8) 1,782 (35.0) 1,169 (29.9) 588 (56.0)
 25.0–29.96,776 (35.4) 1,969 (38.7) 1,384 (35.4) 289 (27.5)
  >304,152 (21.7) 1,280 (25.1) 1,307 (33.4) 119 (11.3)

Abbreviations and notes: No.: numbers, BMI: body mass index and was calculated given the height (meters) and weight (Kg) of participants. HS: high school. The significance level is < 0.01. “Others” which represents predominantly Asians were more likely to have college and graduate degree, followed by Caucasians, while the Hispanics had the lowest participants with either college or graduate degrees, BMI (Kg/m2): body mass index was calculated given the height (meters) and weight (Kg) of participants. The first BMI group (<18.5 Kg/m2) is underweight, 18.5–24.9 is normal, and 25–29.9 is overweight, while >30 is obese. df: degrees of freedom.