(Press-News.org) For nearly three decades, researchers have pondered the Hispanic Mortality Paradox -- why Hispanics in the U.S. tend to outlive non-Hispanic whites by several years, despite having, in general, lower income and educational attainment levels that are associated with shorter lives.
New research suggests that the Hispanic Mortality Paradox may be related to illness survival and recovery advantages. A study by researchers from the University of North Texas and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center found that Hispanics were hospitalized significantly fewer total days during a 12-month period than both non-Hispanic whites and non-Hispanic blacks, and were more likely to survive the hospital stay, regardless of the condition that admitted them to the hospital.
The study, led by University of North Texas psychology professor John Ruiz and recently published in the Journal of Latina/o Psychology, focused on more than 23,000 patients, ages 18 and older, who were admitted to Parkland Hospital in Dallas from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2008. The Hispanic patients consisted of 31.7 percent of the sample. Non-Hispanic blacks were 34.7 percent and non-Hispanic whites were 33.6 percent. Parkland was chosen for the study because of the racial and ethnic diversity of its patients. The hospital also historically serves Dallas County residents of low socioeconomic status, with less than 30 percent of Parkland's patients having individual health insurance.
Ruiz collaborated with researchers from the UT Southwestern Medical Center's Division of Psychology and Parkland Hospital and three UNT graduate students. The team examined anonymous admission records for patients with all conditions, except for childbirth-related visits unless childbirth produced complications.
After the researchers accounted for age, gender and admitting diagnosis, they discovered that Hispanics were hospitalized for significantly fewer days during their first admission for the 12-month period. Hispanics were in the hospital an average of 6.24 days, compared to an average of 6.61 days for non-Hispanic blacks and 7.24 days for non-Hispanic whites. Over the entire 12 months, which included additional hospital stays, Hispanics were hospitalized an average of 8.28 days -- more than a full day less than both non-Hispanic blacks, at 9.76 days, and non-Hispanic whites, at 9.55 days.
Hispanics are the fastest-growing ethnic population in Texas, and are less likely to have health insurance than other ethnic groups. U.S. Census data from 2012 show 39 percent of Texas' Latino population was uninsured, compared with 17 percent of whites and 22 percent of blacks.
Ruiz notes that the study results suggest that Hispanics may be less of a health economic burden than many people believe.
"Considering that the
estimated cost of community hospitalization in the United States was $9,700 in 2010, the average cost for the Hispanic patients in the study would have been $14,754.96, compared with $17,018.10 for non-Hispanic whites," he says.
And although the Hispanic patients in the study were more likely than non-Hispanic whites to be readmitted during the year after an initial hospital stay, they were less likely to die in the hospital than non-Hispanic whites. In addition, Hispanic patients were more likely to be discharged to their families when they left the hospital, instead of being sent to rehabilitation centers or nursing homes, Ruiz says.
"This may suggest that Hispanic patients' recovery was more complete, although more data is needed to clarify this possibility," he says.
In a previous study, Ruiz and researchers from Brigham Young University analyzed Hispanics' and other ethnic groups' mortality rates from cancer, heart disease and other diseases, as presented in 58 studies conducted by other researchers over 20 years.
Ruiz and the BYU researchers discovered that Hispanic participants in all of the studies had a 17.5 percent lower mortality rate as compared their non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic black counterparts, regardless of age. In the studies that tracked heart disease patients, Hispanics 25 percent more likely to be living at the conclusion of the studies than the participants in the other groups.
Ruiz and the research team are currently conducting a follow-up study on hospital stays for Hispanics and other ethnic groups that uses admission records from 2008-2013. The six-year study will allow the researchers to track the number of hospital stays for Hispanic patients with cancer and other long-term illness.
INFORMATION:
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - An international team of researchers including Jon Klein, M.D., Ph.D., and Michael Merchant, Ph.D., of the University of Louisville has identified a protein that turns a person's immune system against itself in a form of kidney disease called membranous nephropathy (MN). The findings are published online in the New England Journal of Medicine.
This is the second protein associated with MN and the development of an autoimmune response.
Through the identification of this second protein, a new blood test can be developed to diagnose this common form of ...
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Most parents agree that all children in daycare centers should be vaccinated, and that daycare providers should be checking vaccine records every year, according to the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health.
All states require vaccines for children who attend daycare, but those requirements may not include every vaccine from birth to age 5 years. As a result, some children still don't receive all recommended vaccines--leaving daycare providers and parents to decide how to handle the situation of a child ...
Minneapolis, MN - November 16, 2014 - Researchers from Allina Health and the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation have presented on the results and implications of The Heart of New Ulm Project on heart disease risk factors at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in Chicago, Ill.
The Heart of New Ulm is a 10-year community intervention aimed at reducing the rate of modifiable cardiovascular disease risk factors in a rural community through interventions delivered through clinical, worksite, and broader community settings with goals of improving lifestyle ...
A study by Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) researchers finds that body mass index (BMI) plays a role in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients' ability to achieve a sustained remission. Looking at patients who had received an RA diagnosis within the past 12 months, investigators found that those who were significantly underweight or overweight/obese were the least likely to remain in remission.
The study, titled, "Very Low or High Body Mass Index Negatively Affects Patients' Ability to Achieve Sustained Remission in Early RA in a Multicenter Canadian Cohort," was presented ...
When you think of hip replacement surgery, you generally envision an older adult with painful osteoarthritis. But the procedure is also used for younger patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) whose joints have been severely damaged by the disease.
A new study by Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) researchers finds that total hip replacement (THR) is an excellent option for patients under age 35 when conservative treatments fail to provide relief.
The study, presented at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting on November 16, found that hip replacement ...
Physicists have engineered a spiral laser beam and used it to create a whirlpool of hybrid light-matter particles called polaritons.
"Creating circulating currents of polaritons - vortices - and controlling them has been a long-standing challenge," said leader of the team, theoretician Dr Elena Ostrovskaya, from the Research School of Physics and Engineering at The Australian National University (ANU).
"We can now create a circulating flow of these hybrid particles and sustain it for hours."
Polaritons are hybrid particles that have properties of both matter and light. ...
CHICAGO and BOSTON - Nov. 16, 2014 - The Harvard Clinical Research Institute (HCRI) announced today results of the DAPT Study, a major international study that investigated the duration of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT, the combination of aspirin and a thienopyridine/antiplatelet medication to reduce the risk of blood clots) following coronary stent implantation. The continuation of dual antiplatelet therapy beyond one year resulted in significant benefits compared with aspirin alone, including reducing the rare but serious problem of stent thrombosis and preventing heart ...
Leading coral reef scientists in Australia and the USA say there needs to be a new approach to protecting the future of marine ecosystems, with a shift away from the current focus on extinction threat.
"Extinction is the final endpoint, but coral reefs are in deep trouble long before we get to that point. We need to take action much earlier," says Professor David Bellwood from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (Coral CoE) at James Cook University.
"The goal should be to maintain reefs that can support corals, fish and humans" Professor Bellwood says.
In ...
VIDEO:
The neurons in this video contain a dye that fluoresces when it encounters calcium ions. When the neuron is excited, calcium floods into the cell and the neuron fluoresces. The...
Click here for more information.
Synapse, the name for the signal-receiving site on a neuron, comes from the Greek word for contact. Neuroscientists used to maintain that neurons form one-to-one relationship to contact one another. Yet more researchers are finding evidence that shows how neurons ...
VIDEO:
The movement of bone marrow B cells was limited in the absence of VCAM-1, as shown in this time-lapse video. B cells (green) were tracked before (left) and after (right)...
Click here for more information.
Newly formed B cells take the easy way out when it comes to exiting the bone marrow, according to a study published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine.
For infection-fighting T and B cells to defend the body, they must first leave their birthplace--the thymus for ...
