Abstract A029: Health information seeking among non-Hispanics, U.S.-born Hispanics, and foreign-born Hispanics, United States, 2017-2018

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Hispanics are the largest and fastest growing minority in the U.S. Compared to non-Hispanics (NH), they are likely to encounter barriers to achieve optimal health based on language, education, and literacy levels, access to care and lack of health insurance. Foreign-born Hispanics (FBH), in particular, are more likely than U.S-born Hispanics (USH) to experience these barriers. We examined health-seeking information behaviors among non-Hispanics (NH), U.S. born Hispanics (USH), and Foreign-born Hispanics (FBH). Methods: We analyzed data from the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) 5 cycle 1 (2017) and cycle 2 (2018). HINTS is a nationally representative cross-sectional sample of health media use and cancer-related knowledge among U.S. adults. Using SAS Version 9.4, we conducted Wald Chi-Square tests to attain descriptive statistics. We performed a multivariate logistic regression to assess the association between the primary outcome – health-seeking information, and the primary predictors – Hispanic ethnicity and nativity while controlling for sociodemographic factors. Results: The majority of FBH (92.57%) had been in the U.S. for more than 10 years. A higher percentage of FBH (31.21%) had less than a high school education when compared to USH (7.76%) and NH (6.8%). Compared to NH (82.32%), a lower percentage of both FBH (62.95%) and USH (77.62%) sought health information (p<0.0001). However, a higher percentage of FBH (23.05%) sought health information from their doctor or health care provider compared to USH (13%) and NH (12.24%) a lower proportion of FBH (68.45%) used the internet to seek health information compared to USH (77.22%) and NH (77.23%). Similarly, a lower proportion of FBH (59.03%) reported using an electronic device to seek health information for themselves compared to USH (70.71%) and NH (73.59%). In multivariable analyses, FBH had 48% lower odds of seeking health information (odds ratio = 0.52, confidence interval = 0.33 – 0.84) compared to NH after adjusting for sociodemographic factors. Additionally, being female, having some college education or higher, and household income of $20K-$75K+ were significantly associated with seeking health information (p<0.0001). Conclusion: We found dramatic differences in the prevalence of health information seeking across groups, with an almost 15% lower prevalence among FBH when compared to USH, and approximately 5% lower prevalence among USH when compared to NH. Specifically, FBH were more likely to seek health information from their health care provider than by electronic devices or the internet compared to USH. Given that FBH are less likely to have a usual healthcare provider and access healthcare regularly, this may make them less likely to receive health information. Differences in health information seeking practices should be considered, and health information campaigns tailored to specific subgroups within the Hispanic population. Citation Format: Betsy Escobar, Trisha Amboree, Maria Jibaja-Weiss, Jane Montealegre. Health information seeking among non-Hispanics, U.S.-born Hispanics, and foreign-born Hispanics, United States, 2017-2018 [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Twelfth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2019 Sep 20-23; San Francisco, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(6 Suppl_2):Abstract nr A029.