RESUMEN
OBJECTIVES: This report summarizes the results of a cross-sectional study in Cameron Park in 2000-2001 to identify disease prevalence and health concerns among colonia residents and to identify environmental exposures to potentially adverse environmental conditions. RESULTS: Asthma and allergies were among the most prevalent respiratory diseases reported in both adults and children of Cameron Park. Other diseases affecting the community in higher numbers included diabetes and heart disease/high blood pressure. Among children, the most prevalent health conditions were asthma, followed by lung diseases, allergies, and to a lesser degree, skin rashes. CONCLUSIONS: These data can be useful in developing education and intervention programs to address the public health and medical issues impacting residents in the Cameron Park Colonia of Texas.
Asunto(s)
Ambiente , Disparidades en el Estado de Salud , Americanos Mexicanos/estadística & datos numéricos , Salud Pública/estadística & datos numéricos , Características de la Residencia/estadística & datos numéricos , Enfermedades Cardiovasculares/etnología , Estudios Transversales , Diabetes Mellitus/etnología , Humanos , Enfermedades Respiratorias/etnología , Factores de Riesgo , Factores Socioeconómicos , Texas/epidemiologíaRESUMEN
Cameron Park, Texas, is a colonia (an isolated, unincorporated rural settlement without municipal improvements) on the Texas-Mexico border in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, in Cameron County near Brownsville, Texas. Cameron Park has a population of 5,961 residents, 99.3% of whom are Hispanic. The annual median income is 16,934 US dollars, about one-half of the state median. Fifty-eight percent of families generally and 68% of those with children younger than 5 years have incomes below poverty level. Cameron Park resides geographically in a region where agriculture has been, and continues to be, a dominant industry, a fact consistent with the intensive use of pesticides and increased potential for air, water, and ground contamination. The practice of good environmental health is extremely difficult under these conditions. In 1999 the Texas A&M University Center for Housing and Urban Development's Colonias Program and the Center for Environmental and Rural Health teamed up to create an environmental health education and outreach program called the Cameron Park Project (CPP). The CPP focused on how to reduce potential environmental exposures associated with human illness by providing residents with scientifically sound information on positive health practices and how to deal with environmental hazards. In this article we discuss the research methodology used in the CPP, a methodology specifically chosen to address four challenges presented by colonias to conducting valid and reliable research.