First-generation Mexican-Americans more apt to have physical problems

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TORONTO, May 5 (UPI) -- Mexican-Americans born in the United States age 55 and older are more likely than immigrants to report physical limitations, researchers say.

The research, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, found more first-generation Mexican-Americans reported physical limitations doing activities such as walking, climbing stairs, reaching, lifting or carrying than immigrants from Mexico.

Lead author Esme Fuller-Thomson, Sandra Rotman Endowed Chair at University of Toronto's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto and colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley, said the study involved data from a nationally representative 2006 American Community Survey, which included more than 13,000 residents born in the United States and more than 11,000 immigrants.

"With one-quarter of older Mexican-American immigrants and 30 percent of Mexican-Americans born in the United States reporting substantial physical limitations, there is a clear need for providing all Mexican-American older adults with appropriate health care, particularly in light of the rapid growth of this population" said study co-author Amani Nuru-Jeter, an associate professor of public health at the University of California, Berkeley.