Death of Young Latino Men in Car Crashes and Homicides Up
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Hispanic men are dying at an increasing rate due to a higher incidence of homicide and car crashes.
At first glance the findings appear contradictory.
A study led by the Yale School of Medicine found that even though the U.S. Latino population generally has better health that non-Latino whites, young Hispanic men are dying at an increasing rate due to a higher incidence of homicide and car crashes.
The health issue is sometimes termed the Latino Epidemiologic Paradox. U.S. Latinos have better health than non-Latino whites — based on indicators such as life expectancy, infant mortality and death from cardiovascular disease — despite higher rates of poverty, lower education, and limited access to healthcare.
The study appears in the advance online edition of the journal “Injury Prevention”.
The Yale-led team studied more than 1.8 million deaths in California from 1999 to 2006, and found deaths from homicide or car crashes were significantly higher for young Latinos than for young non-Latino white men.
“Some of this deals with the context in which injuries occur as well as with developmental factors that influence risk-taking behavior in adolescents,” said Federico Vaca, professor of emergency medicine at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut.
“Prevention measures geared toward this vulnerable group are urgently needed”, Vaca said.
According to a Reuters story on the study, the peak discrepancy in Latino vs non-Latino white mortality came between the ages of 20 and 24 years and appears to be widening.
Male homicide rates for Latinos increased over the study period, although they were below the rates reported for the years 1989 to 1997, the study said. The motor vehicle crash mortality rate among young Latinos exceeded the rate for non-Latino whites overall and for each year during 2003 to 2006.
The same was not the case for young Latina women. Latinas had lower mortality rates than non-Latina white females for all ages over 15.
The Latino population’s growth rate in the United States between 2000 and 2006 was three times that of the total population.
The Americano/Agencies
