Health of Hispanic Adults: United States, 2010–2014

There are 54 million Hispanic persons living in the United States, making them the largest minority group in the country. Disaggregated data on Hispanic subgroups are needed to understand the health of Hispanic persons of diverse backgrounds.

A new NCHS report presents selected estimates of health measures for all Hispanic adults aged 18 and over and for the following four Hispanic subgroups: Central or South American, Cuban, Mexican, and Puerto Rican adults. Comparisons are also made across the subgroups and with the non-Hispanic U.S. adult population as a whole.

Findings:

• Overall, Puerto Rican adults consistently reported poorer health status than non-Hispanic adults.
• Puerto Rican (19.2%) and Mexican (17.4%) adults were more likely than Central or South American (12.3%) and Cuban (14.7%) adults to be in fair or poor health.
• Puerto Rican adults (27.3%) were more likely than Central or South American adults (16.6%) to have had multiple chronic conditions.
• Puerto Rican adults (6.2%) were nearly twice as likely to report serious psychological distress in the past 30 days compared with Central or South American adults (3.3%).
• Puerto Rican adults (11.4%) were more likely than Central or South American (2.9%), Cuban (3.9%), and Mexican (4.8%) adults to be unable to work due to health problems.