U.S. worried by health disparities among Hispanics

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Hispanics in the United States are more likely to be overweight or obese, develop diabetes and die from strokes, AIDS and liver disease than whites, federal officials said on Thursday.

Those problems, when combined with an expected jump in the U.S. Hispanic population, pose a challenge to the well-being of the nation in the form of lost productivity, higher health-care costs and social inequality, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned.

There are more than 35 million Hispanics living in the United States, making them the largest minority group. Their numbers are expected to swell to more than 100 million and account for nearly 24.5 percent of the population by 2050.

“If Hispanics experience poorer health status, this expected demographic change will magnify the adverse economic, social and health impact of such disparities in the United States,” said the CDC, which issued the report.

Relatively poor access to health care as well as cultural barriers contributed to Hispanics’ disproportionately high rates of death, disease and disability, the Atlanta-based agency said in an article in its weekly morbidity and mortality report.

A CDC analysis of 2001-2002 data from 50 states and the District of Columbia revealed that 76 percent of Mexicans and other Latinos living in the United States had health-care coverage, compared with 90.6 percent of non-Hispanics.

They also were significantly less likely to be screened for breast, cervical and colorectal cancers, vaccinated against the flu or tested for blood cholesterol, according to the CDC, which advocated adopting “culturally-appropriate” programs to expand Hispanics’ knowledge and access of health care.

A separate study found adult Hispanics in California, Florida and a handful of other states with large Latino populations were nearly twice as likely as their white counterparts to have diabetes between 1998 and 2002.

Physical inactivity and diets low in fiber and high in calories have been linked to a greater risk for diabetes, a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, amputation of lower limbs and heart disease.

CDC researchers conceded diet and other lifestyle choices could help explain why Hispanics had higher rates of the disease.

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