Hispanic Health

I ran across this article from the Associated Press this morning that hit a bit close to home for me. -- Nimitz' Lady

C-D-C detects higher death rate in Puerto Ricans

ATLANTA (AP) - Federal health officials say Puerto Ricans have a higher death rate linked to high blood pressure than blacks, whites or other Hispanic-Americans do.

It's one of the first analyses of specific U-S Hispanic populations.

Health officials say they don't know why and that more study is needed. One expert says it could be related to health care, diet or genetics.

Research into death certificate data shows Puerto Rican-Americans (side note: Puerto Ricans are Americans from birth, they carry American passports, etc. So, this designation as Puerto Rican-Americans confuses me some.) had 154 high blood pressure-related deaths per 100,000 people in 2002. (My paternal, aka Puerto Rican, grandfather died of a heart attack, as best I know, related to high blood pressure. So this really motivates me to eat better and get to the gym more often.)

The rate for Mexican-Americans was 134.5 and 82.5 for Cuban-Americans. The rate was 138 for blacks and 136 for whites.

Of all racial groups, blacks have the highest rate of high blood pressure. The other groups are roughly equal.

The report is in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.