Hispanic children received significantly higher adjusted rates of nutrition, lifestyle, and weight counseling
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, Feb. 6, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Among children with high blood pressure (BP), there are racial and ethnic disparities in receipt of nutrition, lifestyle, and weight counseling, according to a study published online Jan. 29 in JAMA Network Open.
Moonseong Heo, Ph.D., from Clemson University in South Carolina, and colleagues examined racial and ethnic disparities in receipt of nutrition, lifestyle, and weight counseling among patients with high BP at pediatric primary care visits in a post-hoc secondary analysis of the BP-CATCH study.
Data were included from 2,677 participants from 59 practices: 21.1, 15.5, 41.5, and 20.9 percent were Black, Hispanic, White, and other race and ethnicity, respectively. The researchers found that the overall crude unadjusted rates of receiving counseling were 63.5, 57.6, 47.5, and 46.4 percent for nutrition, lifestyle, weight, and all counseling topics, respectively. Hispanic participants received significantly higher adjusted rates of nutrition counseling, lifestyle counseling, and all three counseling topics compared with the other three racial and ethnic groups (78.6, 69.3, and 52.1 percent, respectively). No significant differences were seen between any pairs of groups in the rates of receiving weight counseling. In general, these findings were consistent among participants without obesity; the only significant pairwise difference among those with obesity was that nutrition counseling rates were significantly different for White participants versus those reporting other race and ethnicity (68.3 versus 81.6 percent).
“Our study also suggests that quality metrics should be stratified by demographic categories to highlight disparities and prevent worsening of inequities as efforts continue to improve and standardize care for all children,” the authors write.
One author disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.
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