Hispanics Lag Behind Whites in Meeting National Health Goals

Newswise — U.S. Hispanics lag behind whites in meeting key health goals established by a large, national public health initiative, a new analysis shows.

"Health disparities are common in the Hispanic population," say researchers led by Dr. Pranesh P. Chowdhury of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Poor health indicators in this population may reduce their productivity, will raise their healthcare costs and will subject them to social inequality."

In the study from the latest issue of the journal Ethnicity & Disease, the authors analyzed responses from 235,784 participants of various ethnic groups (18,929 Hispanics) on six leading health indicators established by Healthy People 2010, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services initiative that promotes health objectives for the United States to achieve by 2010. The elimination of health disparities between ethnic groups is one of the major goals of the initiative.

Overall, Hispanics did not meet any of the target leading health indicators — physical activity, smoking, binge drinking, obesity, health insurance coverage, specific source of ongoing care, influenza vaccination within last 12 months and any pneumococcal vaccination — set by Healthy People 2010.

Although they were less likely to binge drink or smoke than whites, Hispanics were also less likely to participate in moderate physical activity, to have received a pneumonia vaccination, or to have health care coverage and a specific source of ongoing care. In addition, Hispanics were more likely to be obese than their white counterparts.

"Less education, more unemployment and reduced assess to medical care among Hispanics might have contributed to these results," Chowdhury said.

Mark Schenker, M.D., of the University of California at Davis School of Medicine, says it will be difficult to implement changes in time for Hispanics to meet the Healthy People 2010 deadline. "Public health receives less than 5 percent of the health care dollars in this country, so making ground is always a challenge," Schenker said. "When more funding is directed to public health and prevention measures, there will be a greater likelihood of improving on the indicators."

"Targeting these six leading health indicators will definitely reduce chronic health burden of Hispanics in future," Chowdhury said. "Public health professionals need to focus on conducting health education at the community level and implementing culturally appropriate and accessible preventive programs." He said that increasing health insurance and locating specific sources of ongoing health care would improve the situation.

Ethnicity & Disease is a quarterly medical journal studying the ethnic patterns of disease. For more information, contact [email protected] or visit http://www.ishib.org/ED_index.asp

Chowdhury PP, et al. Leading health indicators: a comparison of Hispanics with Non-Hispanic Whites and Non-Hispanic Blacks, United States 2003. Ethnicity & Disease 16(2), 2006.