Vision and Hearing Health Inequities in the Roma population: A National Cross-Sectional Study in Spain

We analyzed vision and hearing health status in the Spanish Roma population compared with the general population and its influence on mental health and social participation. We conducted a Cross-sectional study on Roma population (n = 1.167) compared to general population in Spain (n = 21.007). We a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of immigrant and minority health 2017-12, Vol.19 (6), p.1304-1314
Main Authors: Latorre-Arteaga, Sergio, Gil-González, Diana, Vives-Cases, Carmen, La Parra Casado, Daniel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Chi-square test
Comparative Law
Cross-Sectional Studies
Deafness
Eyeglasses
Female
Health disparities
Health Status
Health Surveys
Hearing aids
Hearing Aids - utilization
Hearing Disorders - ethnology
Hearing loss
Humans
Inequality
International & Foreign Law
Limitations
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Mental depression
Mental disorders
Mental health
Mental Health - ethnology
Middle Aged
Odds Ratio
ORIGINAL PAPER
Population
Population growth
Population studies
Private International Law
Public Health
Roma - statistics & numerical data
Romani people
Social Participation
Socioeconomic Factors
Sociology
Spain - epidemiology
Vision
Vision Disorders - ethnology
Young Adult
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Summary:We analyzed vision and hearing health status in the Spanish Roma population compared with the general population and its influence on mental health and social participation. We conducted a Cross-sectional study on Roma population (n = 1.167) compared to general population in Spain (n = 21.007). We analyzed the use of optical and hearing aids, vision and hearing limitations and associations with mental health, diagnosed depression and social participation; through prevalence, odds ratio adjusted by age (AOR), Chi square independence test and contrast of proportions (p < 0.05). The Roma population are more likely to present vision limitations—far sight AOR = 3.76 (3.13–4.55), near sight AOR = 3.18 (2.33–4.35)-, hearing difficulties—AOR = 1.41 (1.15–1.72)-, and lower use of corrective aids than the general population. These findings were associated with poor mental health and lower social participation (p < 0.01). Vision and hearing limitations affect unequally in Spain. Addressing avoidable vision and hearing impairment among Roma population is needed to reduce health inequities.
ISSN:1557-1912
1557-1920
DOI:10.1007/s10903-016-0489-9