Prevalence of Chronic Diseases and Activity-Limiting Disability among Roma and Non-Roma People: A Cross-Sectional, Census-Based Investigation

Ferenc Vincze, Anett Földvári, Anita Pálinkás, Valéria Sipos, Eszter Anna Janka, Róza Ádány and János Sándor
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Ferenc Vincze: Department of Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Public Health, University of Debrecen, Kassai St 26/B, H-4028 Debrecen, Hungary
Anett Földvári: Department of Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Public Health, University of Debrecen, Kassai St 26/B, H-4028 Debrecen, Hungary
Anita Pálinkás: Department of Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Public Health, University of Debrecen, Kassai St 26/B, H-4028 Debrecen, Hungary
Valéria Sipos: Department of Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Public Health, University of Debrecen, Kassai St 26/B, H-4028 Debrecen, Hungary
Eszter Anna Janka: Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, H-4032 Debrecen, Hungary
Róza Ádány: WHO Collaborating Centre on Vulnerability and Health, Public Health Research Institute, University of Debrecen, Kassai St 26/B, H-4028 Debrecen, Hungary
János Sándor: Department of Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Public Health, University of Debrecen, Kassai St 26/B, H-4028 Debrecen, Hungary

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 19, 1-14

Abstract: The lack of recommended design for Roma health-monitoring hinders the interventions to improve the health status of this ethnic minority. We aim to describe the riskiness of Roma ethnicity using census-derived data and to demonstrate the value of census for monitoring the Roma to non-Roma gap. This study investigated the self-declared occurrence of at least one chronic disease and the existence of activity limitations among subjects with chronic disease by the database of the 2011 Hungarian Census. Risks were assessed by odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) from logistic regression analyses controlled for sociodemographic factors. Roma ethnicity is a risk factor for chronic diseases (OR = 1.17; 95% CI: 1.16–1.18) and for activity limitation in everyday life activities (OR = 1.20; 95% CI: 1.17–1.23), learning-working (OR = 1.24; 95% CI: 1.21–1.27), family life (OR = 1.22; 95% CI: 1.16–1.28), and transport (OR = 1.03; 95% CI: 1.01–1.06). The population-level impact of Roma ethnicity was 0.39% (95% CI: 0.37–0.41) for chronic diseases and varied between 0 and 1.19% for activity limitations. Our investigations demonstrated that (1) the Roma ethnicity is a distinct risk factor with significant population level impact for chronic disease occurrence accompanied with prognosis worsening influence, and that (2) the census can improve the Roma health-monitoring system, primarily by assessing the population level impact.

Keywords: Roma minority; health status; census; risk assessment; impact assessment; monitoring (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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