Hypertension Prevalence among Hispanics/Latinos of Dominican Background: A Transnational Comparison of HCHS/SOL and ENPREFAR-HAS-17

Luisa Alvarez; Ayana April-Sanders; Priscilla Duran Luciano; Un Jung Lee; Katrina Swett; Cesar Herrera; Donaldo Collado; Robert Kaplan; Franklyn Gonzalez Ii; Martha Daviglus; Olga Garcia-Bedoya; Tali Elfassy; Neil Schneiderman; Krista Perreira; Gregory A Talavera; Leonor Corsino; Carlos J Rodriguez

doi:10.5334/gh.1352

Hypertension Prevalence among Hispanics/Latinos of Dominican Background: A Transnational Comparison of HCHS/SOL and ENPREFAR-HAS-17

Glob Heart. 2024 Aug 26;19(1):71. doi: 10.5334/gh.1352. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Luisa Alvarez¹, Ayana April-Sanders², Priscilla Duran Luciano¹, Un Jung Lee³, Katrina Swett¹, Cesar Herrera⁴, Donaldo Collado⁵, Robert Kaplan^{6

7}, Franklyn Gonzalez Ii⁸, Martha Daviglus⁹, Olga Garcia-Bedoya⁹, Tali Elfassy¹⁰, Neil Schneiderman¹¹, Krista Perreira¹², Gregory A Talavera¹³, Leonor Corsino¹⁴, Carlos J Rodriguez¹

Affiliations

¹ Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Department of Cardiology. Clinical Cardiovascular Research Center. 1300 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
² Rutgers School of Public Health. Department of Biostatistics & Epidemiology. 683 Hoes Lane West, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
³ Northwell Health. Biostatistics Unit. 1111 Marcus Avenue Ste 107. New Hyde Park NY 11042, USA.
⁴ Advanced Medicine and Telemedicine Diagnostic Center [Centro de Diagnóstico y Medicina Avanzada y Telemedicina (CEDIMAT)]. Department of Cardiology. Pepillo Salcedo Street and Arturo Logroño Street, Ensanche La Fe, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
⁵ Dominican Society of Cardiology [Sociedad Dominicana de Cardiología (SODOCARDIO)], 403 Santiago Street, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
⁶ Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Department of Epidemiology & Population Health. 1300 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
⁷ Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. Public Health Sciences Division. 1100 Fairview Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109, USA.
⁸ University of North Carolina. Department of Biostatistics. 123 W. Franklin St., Suite 450, CB# 8030, Chapel Hill, NC 27516, USA.
⁹ University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Medicine. Institute for Minority Health Research. 835 S Wolcott Ave (Bldg 935). Mailbox #23 (M/C 769). Chicago, IL 60612, USA.
¹⁰ University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine. Department of Medicine. 1120 NW 14th St, Ste 822, Miami, FL 33136, USA.
¹¹ University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine. Department of Psychology. 1120 NW 14th St, Ste 822, Miami, FL 33136, USA.
¹² University of North Carolina. Department of Social Medicine. 123 W. Franklin St., CB#7240, Chapel Hill, NC 27516, USA.
¹³ San Diego State University. Department of Psychology. South Bay Latino Research Center. 780 Bay Blvd, Suite 200, Chula Vista, CA 91910, USA.
¹⁴ Duke University. Division of Endocrinology, Box 3451, Durham, NC 27710, USA.

Abstract

Background: Hispanics/Latinos of Dominican background living in United States (US) have the highest hypertension prevalence compared with other Hispanic/Latino persons.

Objective: To understand cardiovascular health among Dominicans, we evaluated hypertension prevalence and risk factors among Dominicans from the US and Dominican Republic (DR) using data from Hispanic Community Health Study/ Study of Latinos [HCHS/SOL] and the Prevalencia de Hipertension Arterial y Factores de Riesgo Cardiovasculares en la República Dominicana al 2017 (ENPREFAR-HAS 17) study.

Methods: Hypertension was defined as blood pressure ≥140/90 mmHg, self-reported hypertension, or antihypertensive use. Exposures included sociodemographic/socioeconomic, clinical, and lifestyle/behavioral characteristics. Weighted generalized linear models were used to estimate associations between study characteristics and hypertension prevalence (PR = prevalence ratio), age-and-sex adjusted. HCHS/SOL (n = 1,473, US Dominicans; mean age 41 years, 60.4% female) was analyzed with survey procedures, while ENPREFAR-HAS 17 (n = 2,015 DR Dominicans; mean age 40 years, 50.3% female) was analyzed with statistical analyses for simple random sampling.

Results: Hypertension prevalence was 30.5% and 26.9% for DR and US Dominicans, respectively. Hypertension control was low in both cohorts (36.0% DR, 35.0% US). Alcohol use among DR Dominicans was inversely associated with hypertension prevalence (PR_DR = 0.8) with no association among US Dominicans. In both settings, diabetes (PR_DR = 1.4; PR_US = 1.4) and obesity (PR_DR = 1.8; PR_US = 2.0) were associated with greater hypertension prevalence in Hispanics/Latinos of Dominican background. Physical activity was lower among US Dominicans (PR = 0.80) but higher among DR Dominicans (PR = 1.16); all p < 0.05.

Conclusions: Variations in social, lifestyle/behavioral, and clinical characteristics associated with hypertension among Dominicans in the US and DR were identified, suggesting that social context and cultural factors matter among immigrant populations.

Keywords: Cardiovascular Disease; Dominican Background; Hypertension.

Publication types

Comparative Study
Multicenter Study

MeSH terms

Adult
Cross-Sectional Studies
Dominican Republic / epidemiology
Dominican Republic / ethnology
Female
Hispanic or Latino* / statistics & numerical data
Humans
Hypertension* / epidemiology
Hypertension* / ethnology
Male
Middle Aged
Prevalence
Risk Factors
United States / epidemiology

Grants and funding

HCHS/SOL was carried out as a collaborative study supported by contracts from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to the University of North Carolina (N01-HC65233), University of Miami (N01-HC65234), Albert Einstein College of Medicine (N01-HC65235), Northwestern University (N01-HC65236), and San Diego State University (N01-HC65237).