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Acculturation and Diabetes Self-management of Cuban Americans: Is Age a Protective Factor?

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Abstract

Migration to the United States has been linked to obesity and poor diet quality. We investigated the relationship among diabetes self-management, diet, age and acculturation factors for 182 Cuban-Americans (Females = 110, Males = 72) with type 2 diabetes recruited from a randomized mailing list in South Florida. Inadequate glycemic control (β = 0.257), BMI (β = 0.251), total fat intake (β = 0.251), and smoking (β = 0.200), were positively associated, while understanding of overall diabetes care (β = -0.165), was negatively associated with migration (N = 162, adj.R2 = 0.286, F = 14.65, p < 0.001). These associations suggest that effective diabetes education targeting acculturation issues is lacking.

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Notes

  1. Hispanic Paradox is widely disputed since death records have not always been definitive indicators of Hispanic origin (Smith and Bradshaw 2006). Despite this fact, the majority of studies to date have shown evidence for better or similar health of the Hispanic population to that of non-Hispanic Whites.

  2. The term Hispanic or Latino has been used in the literature to refer to persons from countries of Spanish origin. In the United States, Cuban Americans are the third largest group of Hispanic/Latino Americans.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Michele Swink, Jenny Estevez, Lizabeth Nonell and Gariela Brissi for their help with data collection and data entry.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA

    Fatma G. Huffman, Joan A. Vaccaro, Deva Gundupalli, Gustavo G. Zarini & Zisca Dixon

  2. Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, ACH I Room 435, Robert Stempel College of Public Health, 11200 S. W. 8th Street, Miami, FL, 33199, USA

    Fatma G. Huffman

Authors
  1. Fatma G. Huffman
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  2. Joan A. Vaccaro
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  3. Deva Gundupalli
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  4. Gustavo G. Zarini
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  5. Zisca Dixon
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fatma G. Huffman.

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Financial Disclosure

This study was funded by a grant to the first author from NIH/NIDDK/MBRS/SCORE #124401529/42.

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Huffman, F.G., Vaccaro, J.A., Gundupalli, D. et al. Acculturation and Diabetes Self-management of Cuban Americans: Is Age a Protective Factor?. Ageing Int 37, 195–209 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-010-9102-z

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