# Disparities in Health among Floating Immigrant Populations

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA · 2021 · $628,493

## Abstract

Project Abstract
There exists a shortage of knowledge about how the health of US Mexican immigrants, a population of 12.3
million, is impacted by circular immigration patterns. This population is highly vulnerable to health risks and
stress arising from poverty, discrimination, cultural differences, and immigration policy enforcement.
Addressing this from a public health perspective requires an understanding of the conditions under which
immigrant populations are exposed to health risks in their country of origin, while migrating, at their destination
context or upon returning to their home country. The proposed international research collaboration has the
potential to build a solid research foundation for developing interventions to achieve health equity for an
underserved minority population of US immigrants. The research proposed aims to address this knowledge gap
by examining the mechanisms by which immigration processes expose individuals to distinct environments,
increases susceptibility to risk behaviors and contributes to mental and physical health disparities, infectious
diseases and alcohol/drug dependence in the host or origin communities. Using the Symbiotic Model of Risk
Reduction, this study proposes a concurrent mixed-methods nested design to recruit a sample of 600 that will
include two subgroups of floating recent immigrants (within the past 5 years) that have arrived to Los Angeles
and a group who have returned to Mexico City either voluntary or forced. The specific aims will: 1) Determine
the prevalence of physical health (cardiovascular, metabolic dysregulation), mental health, infection, and
substance abuse/dependence outcomes; 2) Identify and characterize the association between migration histories
and health outcomes for the subgroups of floating populations; 3) Determine whether individual, social and
environmental determinants mediate and/or moderate the relationships among the migration subgroups and
varying health condition outcomes; 4) Characterize qualitatively the influence of culture and community context
on strategies, practices and circumstances for maintaining safer (or riskier) health status and substance use.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10070000
- **Project number:** 5R01MD013628-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Alice Cepeda
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $628,493
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-04-10 → 2023-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10070000

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10070000, Disparities in Health among Floating Immigrant Populations (5R01MD013628-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10070000. Licensed CC0.

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