Self-Reported and Measured Hypertension Among Older US- and Foreign-Born Adults

• Published in: Journal of immigrant and minority health Vol. 14; no. 4; pp. 721 - 726
• Main Authors: White, Kellee, Avendaño, Mauricio, Capistrant, Beatrix Davoli, Robin Moon, J., Liu, Sze Y., Maria Glymour, M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer New York 01.08.2012; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: African Americans; African Americans - statistics & numerical data; Aged; American people; Blood pressure; Blood Pressure Determination; Comparative Law; Emigrants and Immigrants - statistics & numerical data; Ethnicity; European Continental Ancestry Group - statistics & numerical data; Female; Gender; Health; Health surveillance; Hispanic Americans; Hispanic Americans - statistics & numerical data; Hispanic people; Humans; Hypertension; Hypertension - diagnosis; Hypertension - ethnology; International & Foreign Law; Male; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Minority & ethnic groups; Noncitizens; Nutrition Surveys; Older people; Original Paper; Population; Private International Law; Public Health; Race; Reproducibility of Results; Secondary schools; Self Report; Sensitivity; Social research; Sociodemographics; Sociology; Statistical analysis; Studies; Surveillance; United States - epidemiology; Validity; White people; United States; United States > US; Validity; Nativity; Health and Retirement Study; Self-reported hypertension; Race/ethnicity
• ISSN: 1557-1912; 1557-1920
• DOI: 10.1007/s10903-011-9549-3

Self-reported hypertension is frequently used for health surveillance. However, little is known about the validity of self-reported hypertension among older Americans by nativity status. This study compared self-reported and measured hypertension among older black, white, and Hispanic Americans by nativity using the 2006 and 2008 Health and Retirement Study ( n  = 13,451). Sensitivity and specificity of self-reported hypertension were calculated using the Seventh report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure definition. Sensitivity was high among older blacks (88.9%), whites (82.8%), and Hispanics (84.0%), and both foreign-born (83.2%) and US-born (84.0%). Specificity was above 90% for both US-born and foreign-born, but higher for whites (92.8%) than blacks (86.0%). Despite the potential vulnerability of older foreign-born Americans, self-reported hypertension may be considered a reasonable estimate of hypertension status. Future research should confirm these findings in samples with a larger and more ethnically diverse foreign-born population.