The Latina Health Paradox

Another cross post from my time at NLIRH. ENJOY!

The Latino Paradox does not have a robust definition but refers to statistical trends in which health outcomes do not match race/ethnicity or socioeconomic status. For Latinas this means that in some cases, despite our low socioeconomic environments, our health is comparable, or even better, than that of our non-Hispanic counterparts.

It has been commonly known that Latinos suffer lower incidences of cardiovascular disease and have overall lower rates of infant and maternal mortality. However, when looking closer, we still see that Puerto Ricans have the second highest infant mortality rates in the country, falling just behind non-Hispanic Blacks. A recent study conducted by Luisa N. Borrell, and Natalie D. Crawford, has highlighted the importance of looking within the data to get to the truth. In their paper, they highlight that Latinos between the ages of 22-44 actually have a 31% greater overall mortality rate when compared to non-Hispanics with the same age.

On the other hand, a study by the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at UCLA has shown that Japanese women no longer own the title of “longest-lived” group (at 83 years), but in fact, women living in southern Californian Latino communities have the longest life expectancy, at an average of 86 years.

It is also commonly known that Latinos suffer from diabetes at almost twice the incidence of non-Hispanic whites and that Latinas have five times the AIDS rate as non-Hispanic white females.

So, does the Latino Health Paradox exist? And if it does, what does that mean for Latinas and our work here at NLIRH?

Our conclusions show that Latinos do in fact have better or equal health outcomes in some key areas compared to non-hispanic Whites, but they also have worse health outcomes in other areas. The key to advancing our work in medicine, public health, policy and advocacy is in understanding new data on the paradox and conducting our own research. It also means promoting the health benefits of our diversity while highlighting some of the major problems that in deed do exist within our communities.