The Latino health paradox is a phenomenon where Latinos who have recently immigrated to the United States, on average, have better health outcomes on certain indicators compared to Latino immigrants who have lived in the US longer, US-born Latinos, and non-Latino Whites. It is paradoxical because, on average, Latino immigrants who are new to the country tend to have significant social and economic disadvantages.
Yet, research shows that Latinos who have spent a notable length of time in the have some of the highest percentages of obesity rates and the prevalence of obesity increases with the length of residence. Obesity is linked to several chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, stroke, and diabetes.
A team of researchers, including co-author, Dylan Roby, PhD, chair and professor of health, society, and behavior at the UC Irvine Program in Public Health, conducted statistical analyses on data pulled from the 2019-2020 National Health Survey (NHS) to figure out why this paradox exists. The study findings, published in the journal Medical Care, confirmed that the paradox exists. Furthermore, their research confirmed previous research findings where foreign-born Latinos had a lower chance of having poor/fair health, hypertension, congenital heart defects, cancer, and depression compared with non-Latino Whites.
Though our study confirms the Latino health paradox after adjusting for healthcare access and utilization and predisposing and enabling factors, we still do not know why this paradox exists.”
– Dylan Roby, PhD
Despite adjusting their NHS data for healthcare access, utilization and social determinants of health like predisposing and enabling factors, the researchers found that the paradox still exists. Healthcare access was measured using two variables indicating whether participants had a medical home, other than the emergency department, and health insurance. Healthcare utilization was measured by seeing a doctor or other health professional within the past 12 months. Predisposing factors included the following demographic characteristics: citizenship status, gender, marital status, age, level of education, and employment status. Enabling factors included family income measured as a percent of the federal poverty level, household region, urban-rural classification, and length of residence in the United States.
“Though our study confirms the Latino health paradox after adjusting for healthcare access and utilization and predisposing and enabling factors, we still do not know why this paradox exists,” says Roby. “Further research should be conducted to understand this paradox, which would give insight into better interventions to curb chronic disease prevalence among diverse communities.”
This research was supported by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health.
Additional authors include corresponding author, Clara B. Barajas, MPH, Drexel University; co-authors: Alexandra C. Rivera-Gonzalez, PhD, University of California, Merced; Arturo Vargas Bustamente, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles; Brent A. Langellier, PhD, Drexel University; Damaris Lopez Mercado, MPH, Drexel University; Ninez A. Ponce, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles; Jim P. Stimpson, PhD, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; Maria-Elena De Trinidad Young, PhD, University of California, Merced; Alexander N. Ortega, PhD, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
