Patterns of Health Risk

General Health Status

Our knowledge of the determinants of healthy aging in the Hispanic/Latino population is expanding because of increased attention to ethnicity in health reporting and health disparities (Stevens & Cousineau, 2007). Recognizing the heterogeneity of the population reported as “Hispanic”, it is expected that some heterogeneity exists in terms of health status as well as culture, history, and socioeconomic status.

Health indicators for persons of Puerto Rican descent were significantly worse than those of other Hispanic origin sub-groups. For example, 21% of Puerto Rican persons reported having an activity limitation compared to 15% and 14% for Cuban and Mexican persons. older adults Data from the 2022 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) showed that older Hispanics (10.3%) engaged in less in physical activity compared to non-Hispanic White (15.2%). Data from NHIS 2022 points out lower levels of physical activity was observed for older adults (65+) who had less education and lower income as compared to older adults with more education and higher incomes.

Ethnic differences in self-assessed health may not accurately reflect patterns resulting from objective health measurements. older adults A report from Older Americans Key Indicators of Wellbeing: 2024 reports that in 2022, 80% of non-Hispanic White reported their health to be good to excellent and Hispanics at 62% similar to Black, non-Hispanic at 68%