Hernandez Elaine M, Margolis Rachel, Hummer Robert A
1 Indiana University, Bloomington, USA.
2 University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.
J Aging Health. 2018 Mar;30(3):342-364. doi: 10.1177/0898264316678756. Epub 2016 Dec 8.
Hypertension represents a gateway diagnosis to more serious health problems that occur as people age. We examine educational differences in three health behavior changes people often make after receiving this diagnosis in middle or older age, and test whether these educational differences depend on (a) the complexity of the health behavior change and (b) gender.
We use data from the Health and Retirement Study and conduct logistic regression analysis to examine the likelihood of modifying health behaviors post diagnosis.
We find educational differences in three behavior changes-antihypertensive medication use, smoking cessation, and physical activity initiation-after a hypertension diagnosis. These educational differences in health behaviors were stronger among women compared with men.
Upon receiving a hypertension diagnosis, education is a more important predictor of behavior changes for women compared with men, which may help explain gender differences in the socioeconomic gradient in health in the United States.
高血压是随着人们年龄增长而出现的更严重健康问题的一个初步诊断。我们研究了人们在中年或老年被诊断出患有高血压后通常会做出的三种健康行为改变中的教育差异，并测试这些教育差异是否取决于（a）健康行为改变的复杂性和（b）性别。
我们使用来自健康与退休研究的数据，并进行逻辑回归分析，以检查诊断后改变健康行为的可能性。
我们发现，在被诊断出患有高血压后，在三种行为改变——使用抗高血压药物、戒烟和开始体育锻炼——方面存在教育差异。与男性相比，女性在这些健康行为方面的教育差异更大。
在被诊断出患有高血压后，与男性相比，教育对女性行为改变的预测作用更为重要，这可能有助于解释美国健康方面社会经济梯度中的性别差异。
