Perceived general, mental, and physical health of Latinos in the United States following adoption of immigrant-inclusive state-level driver's license policies: a time-series analysis

The Relative Influence of Perceived Immigration Laws and Consequences on HIV Testing Among US Latino Immigrants

The CDC recommends that persons aged 13-64 receive an HIV test at least once in their lifetime and that some groups test annually or more frequently. Nearly one-half of US Latino immigrants have never been tested for HIV. To the extent that immigration-related laws deter documented and undocumented immigrants from engaging in communicable disease control measures, these laws undermine public health efforts. 1750 noncitizen adult, sexually active, Spanish-speaking Latino immigrants across four cities in the US completed a cross-sectional survey assessing perceptions of immigration-related laws and immigration consequences related to HIV testing and diagnosis. Participants were recruited in-person by staff in community settings, through flyers posted in places frequented by Latino immigrants, and by word-of-mouth through snowball sampling. Outcomes were whether participants had ever received an HIV test and whether they tested in the previous 12 months. Multivariable analyses examined the relative contribution of perceived immigration laws and consequences on HIV testing behaviors when considering established predictors of HIV testing. Perceptions of HIV-related immigration laws and immigration consequences was a significant predictor of never having had an HIV test even when considered relative to common predictors of HIV testing. The influence of perceived immigration laws and consequences on testing in the previous 12 months was not significant in multivariable analysis. Perceived HIV-related immigration laws and consequences appear to be a substantial contributor to reluctance to be tested for HIV among Latino immigrants who have never been tested. Effective interventions should be developed to address these.

Evaluating Alcohol Use Severity in Terms of Cigarette Smoking-Related Processes and Anxiety/Depression Among Adult Latinx Smokers

OBJECTIVE

Although empirical work focused on smoking-drinking comorbidity among Latinx persons is growing, no work has explored the relation between alcohol use severity in terms of co-occurring smoking processes and mental health. Therefore, the present investigation aimed to explore the prevalence and role of alcohol use severity in relation to clinically significant tobacco and mental health problems among English-speaking Latinx adults who smoke cigarettes.

METHODS

Participants included 338 English-speaking Latinx adults who smoked cigarettes daily (Mage = 35.5 years; SD = 8.65; age range 18-61; 37.3% female).

RESULTS

Results indicated that approximately 68% of male and 61% of female smokers scored above established clinical cutoffs for hazardous and harmful alcohol use and possible alcohol dependence. Moreover, alcohol use severity was associated with increased risk for cigarette dependence, perceived barriers for quitting, and more problematic symptoms when trying to quit. Alcohol use severity was also related to more severe anxiety and depressive symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, the current findings suggest that intervening to reduce alcohol use severity may be important to improving smoking cessation and mental health among Latinx persons who smoke.

Perceived Health Status and Medical Conditions Among US Active-Duty Service Members

Purpose

This paper investigates the association between self-reported perceived health status and doctor-informed medical conditions among US active duty service members (ADSM).

Methods

Data are from the 2018 Health-Related Behaviors Survey - a cross-sectional survey weighted to represent the US military (N = 17166). Perceived good health status was defined as having a response choice of "good", "very good", or "excellent" to the question: Would you say your overall physical health is ___? Medical conditions were based on self-reported presence of nine clinical conditions. Analysis included weighted prevalence and log-binomial regression models to explore relationships between ADSM characteristics with perceived good health status as well as concordance between perceived status and medical conditions.

Results

ADSM rated their health to be excellent (14.6%), very good (37.7%), good (36.2%), fair (9.7%) and poor (1.7%). About 88.5% perceived a good (to excellent) health status. Perceived good health status was negatively associated with the number of medical conditions present (adjusted odds ratio (aOR): ranging from 0.78 to 0.92) as well as several health behaviors (aOR): ranging from 0.86 to 0.98) and other sociodemographic factors. Among all ADSMs, 51% perceived good health in the absence of medical conditions, while 8% perceived poor health status in the presence of medical conditions. Concordance between perceived health status and medical conditions was significantly lower among ADSM who were older (aOR: 0.61; 95% CI: 0.54-0.69), with dependent children (aOR: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.84-0.95), or had been deployed (aOR: 0.89, 95% CI: 0.84-0.95).

Conclusion

The prevalence of perceived good health status among ADSMs was consistent with those documented in the general US population. The interrelationships between ADSM's perceptions, medical conditions and sociodemographic characteristics may have implications for their health literacy and utilization of health services. Study findings suggest that interventions promoting healthy behaviors, health literacy and treatment-seeking may influence perceived health status and mitigate medical conditions among ADSM, thus improving the US Military readiness, resilience and mission success.