Bi-cultural dynamics for risk and protective factors for cardiometabolic health in an Alaska Native (Yup'ik) population

Authors

Jacques Philip, University of Alaska, FairbanksFollow
Toves K. Ryman, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Scarlett E. Hopkins, University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Diane M. O'Brien, University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Andrea Bersamin, University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Jeremy Pomeroy, Marshfield Clinic Research Institute
Kenneth E. Thummel, University of Washington
Melissa A. Austin, University of Washington
Bert B. Boyer, University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Kirk Dombrowski, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2017

Citation

Philip J, Ryman TK, Hopkins SE, O'Brien DM, Bersamin A, Pomeroy J, et al. (2017) Bi- cultural dynamics for risk and protective factors for cardiometabolic health in an Alaska Native (Yup'ik) population. PLoS ONE 12(11): e0183451. https:// doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0183451

Comments

© 2017 Philip et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.

Abstract

Alaska Native people experience disparities in mortality from heart disease and stroke. This work attempts to better understand the relationships between socioeconomic, behavioral, and cardiometabolic risk factors among Yup'ik people of southwestern Alaska, with a focus on the role of the socioeconomic, and cultural components. Using a cross-sectional sample of 486 Yup'ik adults, we fitted a Partial Least Squares Path Model (PLS-PM) to assess the associations between components, including demographic factors [age and gender], socioeconomic factors [education, economic status, Yup'ik culture, and Western culture], behavioral factors [diet, cigarette smoking and smokeless tobacco use, and physical activity], and cardiometabolic risk factors [adiposity, triglyceride-HDL and LDL lipids, glycemia, and blood pressure]. We found relatively mild associations of education and economic status with cardiometabolic risk factors, in contrast with studies in other populations. The socioeconomic factor and participation in Yup'ik culture had potentially protective associations with adiposity, triglyceride-HDL lipids, and blood pressure, whereas participation in Western culture had a protective association with blood pressure. We also found a moderating effect of participation in Western culture on the relationships between Yup'ik culture participation and both blood pressure and LDL lipids, indicating a potentially beneficial additional effect of biculturalism. Our results suggest that reinforcing protective effects of both Yup'ik and Western cultures could be useful for interventions aimed at reducing cardiometabolic health disparities.