Key result
African Americans with spinal cord injury were more likely to report smoking, alcohol use, and receiving flu/pneumonia vaccines, but less likely to have blood cholesterol checked.
Why the study?
Are protective and risk health behaviors more common among African Americans with spinal cord injury compared with the general population?
Cross-Sectional (n=252)
Are protective and risk health behaviors more common among African Americans with spinal cord injury compared with the general population?
African Americans with SCI focus preventive health behaviors on SCI-specific prophylactic care rather than general chronic disease prevention.
Suggests broader cardiovascular prevention focus for African Americans with SCI; leaves open mechanisms and generalizability of behavior patterns.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to identify whether protective and risk health behaviors are more common among African Americans with spinal cord injury (SCI) compared with African Americans in the general population. METHODS: Mail-in surveys were collected from 252 adult participants with SCI. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data from 2009 was downloaded. RESULTS: Participants with SCI were more likely to report currently smoking. Among those who reported currently smoking, persons with SCI were less likely to report ever trying to quit. Those with SCI were also more likely to report consuming alcohol and binge drinking in the past month. Participants with SCI were more likely to receive a flu shot/spray in the past year and to have ever received a pneumonia vaccine. Conversely, those with SCI were less likely to report ever having their blood cholesterol checked. CONCLUSIONS: Results of this study suggest that, consistent with previous research, individuals with SCI focused their preventive health behaviors on conditions consistent with SCI prophylactic standard of care (e.g., flu shots and pneumonia vaccines), as compared to behaviors intended to prevent chronic diseases consistent with the overall population.
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Saunders et al. (2013) conducted a cross-sectional in Spinal cord injury (n=252). Spinal cord injury vs. African Americans in the general population was evaluated on Health behaviors (smoking, alcohol consumption, vaccinations, cholesterol screening). African Americans with spinal cord injury were more likely to report smoking, alcohol use, and receiving flu/pneumonia vaccines, but less likely to have blood cholesterol checked.
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