Migration status, socioeconomic status, and mortality rates in Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic whites: The San Antonio heart study

Ming Wei, Rodolfo A. Valdez, Braxton D. Mitchell, Steven M. Haffner, Michael P. Stern, Helen P. Hazuda

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

73 Scopus citations

Abstract

It has been claimed that Mexican Americans have a favorable mortality experience despite their low socioeconomic status (SES). The present study compared all-caused mortality of non-Hispanic whites with that of United States-born and foreign-born (i.e., born in Mexico) Mexican Americans. Subjects were 3735 residents of San Antonio, TX, who were followed-up for 7- 8 years. The sex-age adjusted death rates per 1000 person-years were higher for United States-born Mexican Americans (5.7) than for non-Hispanic whites (3.8) or for foreign-born Mexican Americans (3.6). Foreign-born Mexican Americans had the lowest socioeconomic status (SES), and non-Hispanic whites had the highest SES. After adjustments for SES, the morality ratio for United States-born Mexican Americans compared with foreign-born Mexican Americans was 1.9 (95% confidence interval, 1.0-3.5), while the ratio for United States-born Mexicans Americans compared with non-Hispanic whites was 1.0 (95% confidence interval, 0.7-1.6). Stratified analysis revealed that those in the lowest SES tertiles had threefold greater risk of death than those in the highest tertiles among both United States-born Mexican Americans and non- Hispanic whites (test for trend, P < 0.001). These data suggest that lower SES is strongly associated with increased morality. After adjustment for SES, mortality rates were similar for United States-born Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic whites. Foreign-born Mexican Americans had the lowest mortality rates of three groups.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)307-313
Number of pages7
JournalAnnals of epidemiology
Volume6
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 1996

Keywords

  • Mexican Americans
  • Mortality
  • migration
  • non-Hispanic whites
  • socioeconomic status

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Epidemiology

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