Inequalities in Structural Social Capital and Health between Migrant and Local Hypertensive Patients

BACKGROUND: Inequality in health between migrant and local hypertensive patients is an important public health concern. This study aims to examine the associations of registration status with structural social capital and health of hypertensive patients, as well as how structural social capital operates in the relationship between registration status and health. METHODS: We conducted an on-site based cross-sectional study in Shenzhen, China. A total of 1046 participants completed the survey. Information with respect to structural social capital, subjective and objective health outcomes was collected. Multiple logistic or linear regression models were used to test the associations across registration status, structural social capital and health outcomes. RESULTS: The findings show that migrant hypertensive patients have lower structural social capital in terms of social contacts (10.87 vs. 10.41; β = –0.457, 95% CI: –0.866, –0.048) and poorer health outcomes, i.e., blood pressure control (56.4 vs. 43.6%; OR = 0.557, 95% CI: 0.364, 0.852) when compared to the local individuals. Meanwhile, individuals with lower structural social capital report poorer self-rated health. However, the differences in structural social capital between migrant and local hypertensives explain only a small proportion of the large inequalities in blood pressure control. CONCLUSIONS: Inequalities exist between migrant and local hypertensives in objective but not subjective health outcomes. Structural social capital associates with subjective health outcomes of hypertensive patients only. A modest extent of medication is found by structural social capital of registration health inequalities. Our study suggests that growing contacts providing support for migrant hypertensive patients should be an important goal of future strategies and policies. It also highlights the need for more research on mediating and moderating mechanisms in order to understand the relationship between registration status and health outcomes among hypertensive patients.