Health issues in Hispanic/Latino youth.

Abstract

This review focuses on obesity, asthma and mental health functioning as salient health issues affecting Hispanic youth. Burden of these conditions and consequences for adult health are also discussed. Hispanic youth are affected by obesity at an early age; the prevalence of obesity among Hispanic children 6–11 years old is twice as high as the prevalence for non-Hispanic White children of the same age, but among 2–5 years old is 4 times higher. Asthma disproportionally affects certain Hispanic groups, notably children of Puerto Rican ancestry, and the comorbidity of asthma and obesity is an emerging health issue. Another area of concern is the scant data on mental health functioning among Hispanic youth. Research on Hispanic youth mental health have reported high rates of depressive symptomatology and high rates of alcohol use among Hispanic adolescents but despite these findings, they have inadequate access to mental health services. This review highlights the need for better data to gain a better understanding of the health status of Hispanic youth and help develop preventive programs that addresses the need of this population. Improving access to health services, in particular mental health services, is also a crucial aspect.

Understanding feeding practices of Latinx mothers of infants and toddlers at risk for childhood obesity: A qualitative study

“…Although some spoke of plans to change their practices, many had vague plans or no plans to reduce the child's weight; most were happy that their child at least was not underweight. This is consistent with previous studies that have shown that Latinx mothers view excess weight as protecting the child from being underweight (Isasi et al, ; Lindsay, Sussner, Greaney, & Peterson, ). One can speculate that cultural norms concerning weight and historical fear of not having sufficient access to food contribute to mother's perception of food and weight, although not explicitly expressed.…”

Promoting Healthy Diet, Physical Activity, and Life-Skills in High School Athletes: Results from the WAVE Ripples for Change Childhood Obesity Prevention Two-Year Intervention

“…Children and adolescents with lower social economic status have higher obesity rates, poorer diets, and lower levels of PA [ 7 , 8 , 9 ]. Latino youth are especially at risk for obesity [ 10 ], with significantly higher obesity prevalence (25.8%) than non-Latino youth (11.0–22.0%) [ 1 ]. For Latino youth, obesity rates are high regardless of social economic status [ 8 ].…”

Body mass index associated with childhood and adolescent high‐risk B‐cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia risk: A Children’s Oncology Group report

“…Obesity rates are highest among Hispanic children and they are at higher risk for obesity-related complications. 16,[34][35][36] Over the past two decades ALL rates have increased in Hispanic children at a greater rate than NH children, [37][38][39] particularly for adolescents aged 15 to 19 years, 37 which is the age group in which our study identified an association of B-ALL diagnosis and obesity among Hispanic youth. Different ethnic groups have different percent body fat with similar BMIs.…”