A comprehensive study has highlighted significant health disparities among Latinas in the United States, challenging the long-held “Hispanic paradox” that suggests Latinos have better health outcomes despite socioeconomic disadvantages. Researchers from the study published in BMC Public Health have called for a more nuanced approach to understanding Latina mortality rates, emphasizing the need to consider ethnic origin, place, nativity, race, and socioeconomic status.
The study, which involved screening 367 articles and assessing 146 full-text articles, found that health disparities between Black and White Latinos closely resemble those between non-Latino Blacks and non-Latino Whites. This contradicts the generalized narratives of the “Latino/Hispanic health paradox” and the “healthy immigrant paradox,” which postulate that Latino immigrants have better health outcomes than their U.S.-born counterparts.
The findings underscore the importance of examining differences in mortality rates by race among Latinas to increase understanding of the role race plays in mortality. The study’s authors argue that the lack of context regarding social determinants of health (SDH) and the consistent disregard for Latino heterogeneity have resulted in oversimplified narratives that do not accurately reflect the complex reality of Latina health.
The study’s call to action is for epidemiologists, public health, and social scientists to adopt more robust and comprehensive models that include important SDH such as structural racism, environmental context, and the intersections of poverty, race, and educational level. This shift is crucial for developing targeted interventions and policies that address the specific health needs of the diverse Latina population.
The research was conducted with the aim of disentangling the heterogeneity of the Latina population to better understand and address the health disparities they face. The study’s datasets are available upon reasonable request from the corresponding author, and the research was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH)[1].
See “Critical analyses of Latina mortality: disentangling the heterogeneity of ethnic origin, place, nativity, race, and socioeconomic status” by Vanessa L. Errisuriz on BMC Publilc Health website (January 16, 2024)
