Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Medicine, Division of Behavioral Medicine, Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University, 600 Moye Blvd., Mailstop 694, Greenville, NC, 27834, USA.
Departments of Psychology and Public Health, Center for Health Disparities, Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University, 1800 W 5th Street, Suite 6, Greenville, NC, 27834, USA.
J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2019 Jun;6(3):481-486. doi: 10.1007/s40615-018-00546-9. Epub 2018 Nov 26.
Although African-Americans have a higher prevalence of severe obesity than Whites, they are less likely to have bariatric surgery. Demographic, healthcare, and knowledge variables contribute to this racial disparity but have not been examined separately by race.
Examine the role of demographic, healthcare, and knowledge variables in African-Americans' versus Whites' interest in bariatric surgery.
A random sample of 293 African-American and 259 White adults were surveyed door-to-door in the rural south. The survey assessed weight, height, demographics, access to healthcare, and knowledge of and interest in bariatric surgery.
African-Americans had significantly lower knowledge of bariatric surgery than Whites but there were no racial differences in interest in the surgery. The logistic regression predicting African-Americans' interest in the surgery from demographic, healthcare, obesity, and knowledge variables revealed that obesity (OR = 4.7) and the health benefits (OR = 3.3) were the only predictors. The same regression for Whites found that knowing someone who had the surgery (OR = 3.7) was the sole predictor.
Knowledge variables may be stronger than healthcare and demographic variables as predictors of interest in bariatric surgery among rural, southern, African-Americans and Whites. Whites' willingness to consider the surgery might be enhanced by favorable stories/blogs by those who had the surgery, whereas African-Americans' interest might be increased by information on the additional health benefits of the surgery. These culturally tailored messages from healthcare providers might increase utilization of and reduce racial disparities in bariatric surgery.
尽管非裔美国人中重度肥胖的患病率高于白人，但他们接受减肥手术的可能性却较低。人口统计学、医疗保健和知识变量促成了这种种族差异，但尚未按种族分别进行检查。
检查人口统计学、医疗保健和知识变量在非裔美国人和白人对减肥手术兴趣中的作用。
在南部农村地区，对 293 名非裔美国人和 259 名白人成年人进行了随机上门调查。该调查评估了体重、身高、人口统计学、获得医疗保健的机会以及对减肥手术的了解和兴趣。
非裔美国人对减肥手术的了解明显低于白人，但对手术的兴趣没有种族差异。从人口统计学、医疗保健、肥胖和知识变量预测非裔美国人对手术的兴趣的逻辑回归表明，肥胖（OR = 4.7）和健康益处（OR = 3.3）是唯一的预测因素。针对白人的相同回归发现，了解有人接受过手术（OR = 3.7）是唯一的预测因素。
知识变量可能比医疗保健和人口统计学变量更能预测农村南部非裔美国人和白人对减肥手术的兴趣。如果有接受过手术的人分享他们的故事/博客，可能会增强白人对手术的接受意愿，而如果能提供手术的其他健康益处的信息，则可能会增加非裔美国人对手术的兴趣。这些来自医疗保健提供者的针对特定文化的信息可能会增加减肥手术的利用率并减少种族差异。
