Guatemala City youth: An analysis of health indicators through the lens of a clinical registry

Abstract

Background: Despite the inclusion of adolescent health in recent global frameworks, limited data exist on health indicators in low-income countries. Our objective was to identify socioeconomic measures, risk behaviors and health indicators of young people in Guatemala. Methods: We conducted a secondary data analysis of the Pan American Health Organization's Sistema Informático del Adolescente of 2831 participants ages 10-24 y from 2008 to 2014. We examined frequencies for a core set of items, and generalized regression models assessed correlations between age, sex and ethnicity with health outcomes of interest. Results: Fewer than 17% of participants reported a history of chronic illness (16.6%) and severe psychological problems (16.8%). While 66.1% of participants' mothers and 36.6% of fathers reported job instability, far fewer families had housing instability (1.9% with no electricity, 6.3% with no running water). Fewer than one-third (29.1%) were sexually active and the majority (76.0%) routinely used condoms. About one-quarter (22.6%) reported abnormal mood. Indigenous participants were significantly more likely to have experienced psychological problems (odds ratio [OR] 1.75 [confidence interval {CI} 1.65-1.86]) and violence (OR 1.34 [CI 1.27-1.42]) compared with whites. Conclusions: The prevalence of risk behaviors and mental health concerns is low compared with other sources of national and regional data. Further work is needed to examine the benefits and limitations of this system in order to improve health surveillance.