UB Nursing Environmental Health Researcher Receives Top Honors at International Cardiovascular Nursing Conference

Smith is the principal investigator on the study. His co-investigators, all affiliated with the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University in Atlanta, include Liliana Aguayo, research assistant professor; Simón Herrera Suarez, data manager for the Farmworker Family Health Program; Lori Modley, assistant professor; and Erin Ferranti, assistant professor.

The symposium will be held April 9-11 in Scottsdale, Ariz. Hundreds of cardiovascular health care professionals, including nurse practitioners, attend to engage with research that is shaping the future of cardiovascular care and to translate new insights into their clinical practice.

In addition to a poster presentation, Smith and his co-investigators will present their findings on the mainstage of the symposium.

Smith’s study examines why obesity, hypertension and diabetes are widespread in U.S. farmworker communities, often beginning in childhood. These cardiovascular risks are closely linked to inadequate nutrition, yet little is known about the nature of nutrition deficiencies in this population. The study assesses the prevalence of obesity and anemia among farmworker children and compares those rates with national estimates.

This research was conducted as part of the Farm Worker Family Health Program, which is an interprofessional, in-country cultural immersion service-learning experience in southwest Georgia. Each summer, students from multiple universities in Georgia provide health care to farm workers and their children over a two-week period.

“The most significant finding was that children in the Farmworker Family Health Program had 40% higher odds of overweight/obesity compared with Hispanic/Latinx children in the CDC’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), even after adjusting for age and sex,” says Smith. “In contrast, anemia prevalence was similar across groups. To me, this suggests that farmworker children may be experiencing a disproportionate burden of cardiometabolic risk that isn't stemming from anemia-related concerns relative to national Hispanic/Latinx benchmarks.”

Smith explains that by comparing farmworker children to Hispanic/Latinx children in NHANES, this study provides important evidence on how risk may emerge earlier in life for this population. Possible future research could explore how food insecurity, migration patterns, occupational and family stressors, and access to preventive care impact health care outcomes for this group.

“Longitudinal studies could help determine how early childhood risk translates into cardiometabolic outcomes later in life, and intervention studies could test whether farmworker outreach programs that integrate cardiovascular screening and nutrition counseling improve cardiovascular health throughout the life course,” Smith says.

By Shannon O'Sullivan