Abstract

Asthma represents a significant burden among adult Hispanics in the United States. Traditionally, Hispanics have been studied as a group; however, Hispanics are a heterogeneous group, contending with differing asthma risk. Thus, the objective was to examine the influence of demographic, socioeconomic, acculturative, and neighborhood factors on asthma risk among three Hispanic subgroups in the United States: Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Dominicans. We selected data from the National Health Interview Survey, 2013–2017. The dependent variable was asthma diagnosis. We were interested in the difference in prevalence and risk factors for asthma among Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Dominicans. Independent variables were grouped in relation to demographic, socioeconomic, acculturative, and neighborhood variables. We calculated descriptive statistics and adjusted risk ratios. Asthma prevalence was similar among Mexicans and Dominicans, while prevalence among Puerto Ricans was nearly twice as high compared to Mexican and Dominicans. There were, however, major differences in the risk of asthma. After adjusting for the effects of demographic, socioeconomic, acculturative, and neighborhood variables, Puerto Ricans had a 2.7x greater risk of reporting asthma compared to Mexicans, while Dominicans were at 1.5x greater risk of reporting asthma compared to Mexicans. Hispanics in the United States are a heterogeneous group impacted by different socioeconomic and acculturative factors. Targeted interventions need to account for differences in risk among Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Dominicans living in the US.