Table 1.
Descriptive characteristics of the adult respondents ≥ 18 years by quintiles of cumulative social determinants of health risk index: National Health Interview Survey 2013–2017
| Characteristics | Total | Quartile groups of cumulative SDoH index | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SDoH-Q1 | SDoH-Q2 | SDoH-Q3 | SDoH-Q4 | ||
| Cumulative SDoH score | 3 (2–6) | 2 (1–3) | 5 (4–6) | 8 (6–10) | 13 (10–16) |
| Sample | 156,182 | 55,758 | 36,459 | 26,881 | 37,084 |
| Weighted sample | 232,798,758 | 87,665,007 (37.7) | 54,202,921 (23.3) | 38,603,707 (16.6) | 52,327,122 (22.5) |
| Demographic characteristics | |||||
| Sex | |||||
| Male | 70,370 (48.3) | 18,357 (49.9) | 18,913 (48.0) | 19,056 (48.0) | 14,044 (46.3) |
| Female | 85,812 (51.7) | 29,703 (50.1) | 20,092 (52.0) | 14,813 (52.0) | 21,204 (53.7) |
| Age, years | 46.19 ± 17.41 | 50.83 ± 17.08 | 46.32 ± 18.29 | 42.95 ± 17.41 | 40.66 ± 15.11 |
| Age group | |||||
| 18–39 years | 55,329 (39.5) | 13,511 (28.7) | 12,984 (40.3) | 11,417 (47.1) | 17,417 (51.2) |
| 40–54 years | 39,190 (26.8) | 13,969 (27.8) | 8,376 (25.2) | 6,459 (25.2) | 10,386 (27.7) |
| 55–64 years | 27,923 (17.1) | 11,057 (19.5) | 6,113 (16.2) | 4,601 (15.7) | 6,152 (14.8) |
| ≥ 65 years | 33,740 (16.6) | 17,221 (23.9) | 8,986 (18.2) | 4,404 (12.0) | 3,129 (6.2) |
| Race/ethnicity | |||||
| Non-Hispanic White | 100,932 (65.2) | 43,913 (78.5) | 24,930 (68.1) | 15,544 (58.0) | 16,545 (45.2) |
| Non-Hispanic Black | 20,411 (12.1) | 4,704 (7.9) | 4,515 (11.6) | 4,456 (15.7) | 6,736 (17.1) |
| Non-Hispanic Asian | 8,934 (5.9) | 3,097 (6.0) | 2,325 (6.5) | 1,735 (6.5) | 1,777 (4.7) |
| Hispanic | 23,906 (15.8) | 3,587 (69.3) | 4,223 (12.8) | 4,742 (18.8) | 11,354 (31.6) |
| Other | 1,999 (1.0) | 457 (0.6) | 466 (1.0) | 404 (1.0) | 672 (1.4) |
| Region of residence | |||||
| Northeast | 25,595 (17.8) | 9,948 (20.1) | 6,188 (18.3) | 4,358 (16.7) | 5,101 (14.2) |
| Midwest | 33,826 (22.4) | 13,108 (23.6) | 8,319 (23.5) | 5,624 (22.1) | 6,775 (19.5) |
| South | 55,595 (36.5) | 18,896 (35.0) | 12,339 (34.8) | 9,692 (37.1) | 14,668 (40.7) |
| West | 41,166 (23.3) | 13,806 (21.4) | 9,613 (23.4) | 7,207 (24.1) | 10,540 (25.5) |
| Health characteristics | |||||
| Smoking history | |||||
| Never | 94,162 (62.7) | 26,998 (67.3) | 18,945 (63.5) | 20,755 (60.2) | 16,178 (55.9) |
| Former | 35,142 (21.4) | 11,152 (24.7) | 7,720 (22.3) | 8,026 (19.3) | 6,097 (16.5) |
| Current | 26,300 (16.0) | 2,972 (8.1) | 3,399 (14.1) | 5,467 (20.5) | 6,103 (27.6) |
| Obesity | 50,298 (31.9) | 15,994 (28.3) | 11,531 (31.6) | 8,946 (33.5) | 13,827 (37.0) |
| Arthritis | 38,007 (21.6) | 13,963 (22.3) | 8,914 (21.6) | 6,317 (21.0) | 8,813 (20.9) |
| Cancer | 14,386 (8.2) | 6,759 (10.6) | 3,367 (8.1) | 1,975 (6.5) | 2,285 (5.4) |
| Chronic liver disease | 2,067 (1.2) | 491 (0.8) | 421 (1.1) | 379 (1.2) | 776 (1.8) |
| Coronary heart disease | 9,923 (5.4) | 3,295 (5.1) | 2,366 (5.6) | 1,721 (5.4) | 2,541 (6.0) |
| Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease | 5,258 (2.7) | 1,215 (1.8) | 1,177 (2.7) | 1,066 (3.2) | 1,800 (4.1) |
| Diabetes mellitus | 15,168 (8.9) | 4,645 (7.6) | 3,488 (8.6) | 2,847 (9.6) | 4,188 (10.7) |
| Hypertension | 50,647 (29.3) | 18,799 (30.3) | 11,983 (29.5) | 8,471 (28.2) | 11,394 (28.1) |
| Kidney failure | 3,246 (1.7) | 702 (1.0) | 710 (1.7) | 610 (2.0) | 1,224 (2.6) |
| Stroke | 4,581 (2.4) | 1,218 (1.9) | 1,009 (2.2) | 899 (2.8) | 1,455 (3.4) |
| Kessler-6 score (psychological distress) | 1 (0–4) | 0 (0–2) | 1 (0–3) | 1 (0–4) | 3 (0–7) |
| Social determinants of health (selected) | |||||
| Low household income (< 200% FPL) | 55,699 (30.7) | 3,142 (4.4) | 11,489 (25.6) | 13,821 (45.5) | 27,247 (69.2) |
| High financial distress* | 57,650 (38.0) | 7,215 (14.3) | 12,041 (36.3) | 12,265 (48.1) | 26,129 (71.0) |
| Living quarters other than house/apartment/flat/condo | 9,314 (5.2) | 624 (0.9) | 1,898 (4.2) | 2,606 (8.3) | 4,186 (11.0) |
| ≤ High school/GED diploma | 59,302 (37.4) | 9,411 (16.2) | 14,008 (38.2) | 12,886 (48.8) | 22,997 (63.6) |
| Not English-proficient | 7,854 (5.6) | 116 (0.2) | 722 (2.5) | 1,509 (6.6) | 5,507 (17.4) |
| Food insecure† | 16,746 (9.7) | 186 (0.3) | 1,178 (3.2) | 3,100 (10.9) | 12,282 (31.1) |
| Trust in neighborhood: somewhat/definitely disagree | 26,102 (17.7) | 416 (0.8) | 2,586 (7.4) | 5,447 (21.7) | 17,653 (49.5) |
| Closeknit neighborhood: somewhat/definitely disagree | 53,506 (36.1) | 7,320 (13.8) | 11,501 (34.6) | 11,357 (46.0) | 23,328 (65.7) |
| No insurance | 19,030 (12.3) | 301 (0.5) | 1,541 (4.6) | 3,616 (14.2) | 13,572 (38.7) |
| No usual source of care | 21,577 (14.1) | 1,635 (2.9) | 3,805 (10.7) | 4,522 (18.0) | 11,615 (33.4) |
Notes: Mean (SD) or median (IQR) presented for continuous variables. Frequency (weighted %) presented for categorical variables.
All comparisons of study characteristics across quartile groups of cumulative SDoH index were statistically significant (p < 0.001)
* High financial distress includes the presence of ≥ 3 of the following: worried about money for retirement; worried about medical cost of illness/accident; worried about maintaining standard of living; worried about cost of normal healthcare; worried about paying monthly bills; and worried about paying rent/mortgage/housing cost
† Food insecurity includes the presence of ≥ 3 of the following in the last 30 days: worried food would run out before got money to buy more; food did not last before had money to get more; Could not afford to eat balanced meals; Cut size or skipped meals because not enough money, and if so, ≥ 3 days in the past month; eat less than felt should because not enough money; hungry but did not eat because not enough money; lose weight because not enough money for food; did not eat for a whole day because not enough money for food, and if so, ≥ 3 days in the past month
Abbreviations: FPL – federal poverty line; GED – general educational development; SDOH-Q – quartile groups of cumulative social determinants of health index