Hispanic paradox

The Hispanic paradox is an <a href="/facts/Epidemiology/wgTmxoMA">epidemiological</a> finding that <a href="/facts/Hispanic_Americans/rIBPIUd3">Hispanic Americans</a> tend to have health outcomes that <a href="/facts/Paradox/3VLGjuWf">paradoxically</a> are comparable to, or in some cases better than, those of their U.S. <a href="/facts/Non-Hispanic_whites/oBCzIsEn">non-Hispanic White</a> counterparts, even though Hispanics have lower average income and education, higher rates of disability, as well as a higher incidence of various cardiovascular risk factors and metabolic diseases.
Low <a href="/facts/Socioeconomic_status/5rVhvE8b">socioeconomic status</a> is almost universally associated with worse population health and higher death rates everywhere in the world. The paradox usually refers in particular to low mortality among Hispanics in the United States relative to non-Hispanic Whites. According to the Center for Disease Control's 2015 Vital Signs report, Hispanics in the United States had a 24% lower risk of mortality, as well as lower risk for nine of the fifteen leading causes of death as compared to Whites.
Researchers attribute the phenomenon to the cultural values, interpersonal context, and community context of the Hispanic population. Hispanics tend to be less stressed economically, since they tend to compare themselves to individuals in their country of origin. There is also strong social and communal support in Hispanic communities, especially for elders. Some health researchers attribute the Hispanic paradox to different eating habits, especially the relatively high intake of <a href="/facts/Legumes/x6s6gVHY">legumes</a> such as beans and lentils.
Statistical biases such as the "salmon bias", which suggests that Hispanics tend to return to their country of origin towards the end of their lives, or the "healthy migrant bias", which assumes that the healthiest and strongest members of a population are most likely to migrate, have been largely refuted by researchers.
Since the 2010s, research has indicated that the Hispanic paradox is disappearing, as Latino mortality increases relative to white Americans, and cardiovascular risk factors are increasing in the Hispanic population. In 2023, a study found that the mortality advantage of Hispanics was largely erased during the <a href="/facts/COVID-19_pandemic/0xTsh7Ut">COVID-19 pandemic</a>, during which Hispanic death rates disproportionately increased.

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Hispanic paradox