U.S. Latinos live about two years longer than whites, to an average 81.2 years of age, according to recent research. Latinos are living longer despite negative health factors including frequent lack of health care, higher poverty rates, and a greater prevalence of chronic diseases such as diabetes, according to a recent Voxxi.com article.
Researchers say Latino immigrants have an even longer life expectancy than the average U.S. Latino. A study by Hans Johnson, a demographer with the Public Policy Institute, shows Latinos in the U.S. live with poor health factors more with each generation except for longevity.
Andrew Fenelon, a University of Pennsylvania Ph.D. student, found that longevity may be indirectly linked to factors such as tobacco use.
“The factors that lead to poor health among those with low socioeconomic status do not seem to affect Hispanics in the U.S.,” Fenelon said. “Smoking may be key to understanding this unexpected finding. Low rates of smoking reflect the societies where Hispanic immigrants originate, and is a behavior retained even after those migrants come to the U.S.
Studies on Latinos in the U.S. show immigrants who have adapted to American culture have more health problems than recent immigrants. Other studies show that immigrants raised in other cultures live longer than those who have been born in the U.S. or are second or third- generation.