Father's World | National Men's Health Week

Hispanic Men's Health

The Good News

Contrary to popular myth, Mexican-American men's fat intake is less than that of white American men. Although both do exceed the median daily recommended amount, Mexican-Americans only exceed it by three percent whereas white American men exceed it by nearly six percent.
The 5-year survival rate for African American males with prostate cancer is 75 percent; it's 90 percent for white males.
Hispanic men also live longer than other ethnic groups, with their life expectancy (in 1996) at birth averaging 75.1 years, more than 10 years longer than African-American men and one year longer than Non-Hispanic White Americans.

The Bad News

Hispanic men and women are about two and half times more likely than non-Hispanic men and women to report having no health care plan.
Hispanic men are three times as likely as white American men to contract the AIDS virus.
Despite being an easily controllable and rarely fatal disease, diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death among Hispanics. For Hispanics over 65 years of age, diabetes represents the fourth leading cause of death.
The prevalence of diabetes is two to four times higher in Mexican-Americans and Puerto Ricans aged 45-74 than in non-Hispanic Whites of the same age group.
Incidences of complications from diabetes are at a higher prevalence among Hispanics, including an eye disease which is one of the leading causes of blindness in the United States and kidney disease which can lead to kidney failure.
Hispanic men are more commonly diagnosed with urinary bladder and stomach cancer as well as the cancers common to white Americans, such as prostate, lung, colon and rectum.
In 1998, sales of dietary supplements in Latin America totaled $600 million or 19 percent of the total over-the -counter pharmaceuticals market, mostly in Brazil, Argentina and Mexico.

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