Associations of Depression, Physical Activity, and Diabetes with Self-Rated Health in Black Men

Black men have higher rates of diabetes that are compounded by obesity and limited physical activity leading to poor self-rated health. The purpose of this study was to provide a nationally representative snapshot of indicators for lower self-rated health in Black men with diabetes. An exploratory secondary analysis was conducted of self-report data, physical measurements, and clinical assessments from the 2009-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) dataset. The analytic sample included 270 Black men 45 years of age or older, who were randomly selected from the dataset through statistical processes. After adjusting for sociodemographic and physiologic characteristics, having diabetes (β = -0.13), fewer days of physical activity (ββ = 0.13), and more depressive symptoms (ββ = -0.34) had statistically significant associations with self-rated health scores (ps < 0.05). Such associations support the use of self-rated health indices as a monitor for quality of life in clinical practice and identify gaps in research related to self-rated health in Black men.