Background: U.S. Latinos report high levels of concern about deportation for themselves or others. No previous research has tested the link between worry about deportation and clinical measures of cardiovascular risk.
Purpose: We estimate the associations between worry about deportation and clinically measured cardiovascular risk factors.
Methods: Data come from the Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas study. The analytic sample includes 545 Mexican-origin women.
Results: In multivariable models, reporting a lot of worry about deportation was significantly associated with greater body mass index, greater risk of obesity, larger waist circumference, and higher pulse pressure. Reporting moderate deportation worry was significantly associated with greater risk of overweight and higher systolic blood pressure. Significant associations between worry about deportation and greater body mass index, waist circumference, and pulse pressure, respectively, held after correcting for multiple testing at p < .05.
Conclusions: Worry about deportation may be an important cardiovascular risk factor for ethnic minority populations in the USA.