Washington – Millions of Latinos come to America looking for jobs and educations but remaining here seems to be bad for their health.
The longer Latino immigrants are here, the more likely they are to become obese and to develop diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. And Latinos born in the United States have even higher rates of those illnesses, a new government report shows.
The analysis of immigrants’ health by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention comes on the heels of a report calling for more educational programs for Latinos, who are expected to increase to nearly one-fourth of the country’s population in coming years, said the study by the National Research Council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences.
Marta Tienda, a sociology professor at Princeton University in New Jersey and head of the panel that wrote the National Academies report, said, “We are in the midst of the Hispanic moment.” But, she added, there are two ominous trends for Latinos – worsening health status and increased risk of family disruption.
The immigrants report, also released Wednesday, promptly documented her health concerns.
It found that 22.0 percent of Latino immigrants who have been in the country five years or more are obese, compared to 16.1 percent who have been here for less than five years.
High blood pressure climbs from 13.4 percent for newer arrivals to 19.8 percent for those here longer. As they stay longer than five years, diabetes rates rise from 6.9 percent to 7.5 percent and heart disease increases from 3.5 percent to 5.4 percent.
And Latino immigrants are among those least likely to have health insurance.
Among Latinos born in this country, 29.8 percent are obese, 24.5 percent report high blood pressure, 10.8 percent are diabetic and 7.6 percent have heart disease.
Among the native-born U.S. population overall, 22.9 percent are obese, 24.3 percent have high blood pressure, 6.1 percent are diabetic and 7.6 percent have heart disease.
The one positive note, smoking declines from 15.3 percent to 13.8 percent among Latino immigrants here more than five years. About 20.1 percent of U.S.-born Latinos smoke, as do 24.0 percent of the overall population.
Latinos are a diverse group, ranging from families that have resided in what is now the United States since the days of the earliest Spanish colonies to the millions of recent immigrants.
And that causes problems in drawing broad conclusions, said Stephen J. Trejo of the University of Texas. For example, lack of education is a problem for many Latinos, but Cubans have very high rates of education, he said.
