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Vision Loss in Children from Immigrant and Nonimmigrant Households: Evidence from the National Survey of Children’s Health 2018–2020

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine whether immigrant generation is associated with caregiver-reported vision loss in children adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics. Nationally representative data from the National Survey of Children’s Health (2018–2020) was used. The primary exposure was immigrant generation defined as: first (child and all reported parents were born outside the United States); second (child was born in the United States and at least one parent was born outside the United States); third or higher (all parents in the household were born in the United States). The main outcome was caregiver-reported vision loss in child. Adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals were computed based on immigration generation. The study sample included 84,860 US children aged 3–17 years. First generation children had higher adjusted odds of caregiver-reported vision loss (aOR 2.30; 95% CI 1.21, 4.35) than third or higher generation children after adjusting for demographic characteristics and social determinants of health. For Hispanic families, first generation (aOR 2.99; 95% CI 1.34, 6.66), and second-generation children (aOR 1.70; 95% CI 1.06, 2.74) had a higher adjusted odds of vision loss compared with third or higher generation children. Even when adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, first generation children had greater odds of vision loss, especially in Hispanic households, than third generation children. Immigration generation should be treated as an independent risk factor for vision loss for children and is a social determinant of eye health.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health Core Grant (EY014800), and an Unrestricted Grant from Research to Prevent Blindness, New York, NY, to the Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah. It is also supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number UM1TR004409 (Smith). The opinions, results and conclusions reported in this paper are those of the authors and are independent from the funding sources. Funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. John A. Moran Eye Center, Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine, University of Utah, 65 Mario Capecchi Drive, Salt Lake City, UT, 84132, USA

    Afua O. Asare & Brian C. Stagg

  2. Department of Population Health Sciences, Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine, University of Utah, 295 Chipeta Way, Williams Building, Room 1N410, Salt Lake City, UT, 84108, USA

    Afua O. Asare, Brian C. Stagg, Nasser Sharareh & Justin D. Smith

  3. Department of Pediatrics, Division of General Pediatrics, Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine, University of Utah, 295 Chipeta Way, Salt Lake City, UT, 84108, USA

    Carole Stipelman

  4. Department of Biomedical Informatics, 421 Wakara Way, Ste 140, Salt Lake City, UT, 84108, USA

    Guilherme Del Fiol

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  1. Afua O. Asare
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Contributions

Afua Asare conceptualized and designed the study, acquired data, analyzed and interpreted data, and drafted the article. Brian Stagg, Nasser Sharareh, Justin D. Smith and Carole Stipelman made substantial contributions to conceptualizing and designing the study, interpreting data and revising it critically for important intellectual content. Guilherme Del Fiol made substantial contributions to analysis, interpreting data and revised it critically for important intellectual content. All authors approved the final manuscript as submitted and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

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Correspondence to Afua O. Asare.

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Asare, A.O., Stagg, B.C., Sharareh, N. et al. Vision Loss in Children from Immigrant and Nonimmigrant Households: Evidence from the National Survey of Children’s Health 2018–2020. J Immigrant Minority Health (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-024-01597-3

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