Posts Tagged: smoking
New CDC report reveals Latinos have better health outcomes than Whites
The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, titled "Vital Signs: Leading Causes of Death, Prevalence of Diseases and Risk Factors, and Use of Health Services Among Hispanics in the United States," showed insights into Latino health, beginning with the detail, Hispanics, on average, are nearly 15 years younger than whites, and they're more likely to live below the poverty line. Also mentioned, the all-cause death rate is 24 percent lower among Hispanics, and the Hispanics experience lower death rates for nine of the 15 leading causes of death.
However, Hispanics showed higher death rates from diabetes (51 percent higher), chronic liver disease and cirrhosis (48 percent), essential hypertension and hypertensive renal disease (8 percent), homicide (96 percent), and higher prevalence of diabetes (133 percent) and obesity (23 percent), compared with non-Hispanic whites. Hispanic death rates for diabetes and chronic liver disease including cirrhosis are higher by about 50 percent. Additionally, 41.5 percent of Hispanics lack health insurance, compared to 15.1 percent of whites, and 15.5 percent of Hispanic indicated they delay or won't receive medical care because of cost concerns, compared to 13.6 percent of whites. However, like non-Hispanic whites, Hispanics most frequently die from cancer or heart disease.
The "Hispanic paradox" is described in the report, identifying Hispanics' projected longer life expectancy and lower mortality rate, despite documented barriers to health, including an elevated uninsured rate. There are lower smoking rates among immigrants, an influx of healthy immigrants to the U.S., an outflow of ill or elderly immigrants and superior levels of family support may explain the improved mortality rate for Hispanic origin groups.
However, Hispanics are not all alike. National origin and cultural heritage can influence health behaviors and outcomes. U.S.-born Hispanics don't fare as well as foreign-born Hispanics; evident by the fact they have higher prevalence of obesity (30 percent higher), hypertension (40 percent), smoking (72 percent), heart disease (89 percent) and cancer (93 percent). Differences don't only exist between U.S.-born Hispanics and foreign-born Hispanics. There were substantial differences identified among Hispanics by origin, nativity and sex. For instance, 66 percent more Puerto Ricans smoke than Mexicans.
According to the report, there are ways to improve the health outcomes of Hispanics, which includes community health workers to encourage residents to pursued care provided by nurses and doctors. Also, offering Latinos "patient-centered, team-based, comprehensive, coordinated health care with enhanced access" is crucial. Access to Spanish and English-language education material that is culturally appropriate language is important and existing programs must be leveraged to improve community health services and access to preventative care.
Source: Published originally on LatinPost.com as New CDC Report Reveals Latinos Have Better Health Outcomes Than Whites by Nicole Akoukou Thompson, May 7, 2015.
US immigration is associated with rise in smoking among Latinos and Asians
The study, “Gender, Acculturation and Smoking Behavior Among U.S. Asian and Latino Immigrants,” examines smoking prevalence and frequency among Asian and Latino U.S. immigrants. The research focuses on how gender differences in smoking behavior are shaped by aspects of acculturation and the original decision to migrate. The study was published recently in the journal Social Science & Medicine and is available online.
“We know that after migrants come to the U.S., their health behavior and health status changes the longer they live in the United States,” said Bridget Gorman, chair and professor of sociology at Rice and the study's lead author. “Our study examined how time spent in the U.S., along with other aspects reflective of acculturation to the U.S., relates to smoking behavior among Asian and Latino migrants.”
The study found that smoking prevalence among Asian immigrant men was more than four times that of Asian immigrant women (30.4 percent and 7.1 percent, respectively); among Latino immigrants, men's smoking prevalence was more than twice that of women's (29.5 percent and 12.6 percent, respectively). For smoking frequency, Asian men on average smoked 2.5 more cigarettes per day than Asian women, compared with 1.5 more cigarettes per day that Latino men smoked than Latino women.
In addition, their analyses also showed that smoking increases with duration of U.S. residence among Asian immigrants (both prevalence and frequency) and among Latino immigrants (frequency only). However, the study also found that independent of time spent in the U.S., “immigrants who form strong connections to the U.S. through English-language proficiency and citizenship acquisition benefit in terms of reduced smoking.” Gorman said this may be because the stresses associated with adapting to the U.S. have declined; but since both English-language proficiency and citizenship are associated with higher socio-economic standing, this might also indicate that smoking is lower among the most economically well-off migrants.
Gorman also noted that although there “tends to be an uptick in unhealthy behaviors like smoking after migration, patterns differ across ethnic groups and between men and women. In particular, women's smoking behavior tends to increase more after migration to the U.S. than men.” Gorman said the uptick in smoking among women may be due to differences in smoking stigma that exist for women in Latin America and especially Asia. She said that the smoking stigma for women is significantly less in the U.S., so when gender differences in smoking between the native and foreign-born are compared, gender gaps tend to be much larger among migrant populations living in the U.S.
The current study found that accounting for gender differences in aspects of acculturation (including time spent in the U.S., citizenship status, and English-language proficiency) explained gender differences in smoking frequency for both Asian and Latino migrants.
The study used a sample of 3,249 Asian and Latino migrant adults aged 18 and older. The study examined how smoking behavior relates to age at migration, citizenship status and length of time in the U.S., how frequently they visit their home country and how proficient they are in their native language and in English.
Source: US immigration is associated with rise in smoking among Latinos and Asians, Rice University Office of Public Affairs by Amy Hodges, August 11, 2014.