© 2026 Boise State Public Radio
NPR in Idaho
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

CDC Releases First National Study On Hispanic Health

Judith Garcia, 19, fills a syringe as she prepares to give herself an injection of insulin at her home in the Los Angeles suburb of Commerce, Calif., Sunday, April 29, 2012. (Reed Saxon/AP)
Judith Garcia, 19, fills a syringe as she prepares to give herself an injection of insulin at her home in the Los Angeles suburb of Commerce, Calif., Sunday, April 29, 2012. (Reed Saxon/AP)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has completed its first national study on Hispanics’ health risks, disease, causes of death and access to health services. The report shows there are differences in disease and health behaviors such as smoking and drinking among U.S. Hispanics from different countries.

The study also looked at differences in health between Hispanic groups in the U.S. and non-Hispanic whites, and found while the overall death rate among Hispanics is 24 percent lower than whites, Hispanics have “substantially higher” death rates for diabetes, chronic liver disease and homicide.

Dr. Ken Dominquez, a medical epidemiologist with the CDC and lead author of the study, tells Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson about some of the findings and some of the risk factors that account for the differences in health.

Guest

  • Ken Dominguez, M.D., medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

You make stories like this possible.

The biggest portion of Boise State Public Radio's funding comes from readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.

Your donation today helps make our local reporting free for our entire community.