Latinos surveyed about their views on health and healthcare they receive in the U.S. said that diabetes was their No.1 health concern, a shift from previous surveys which suggested that cancer was the major health problem among the Latino community.
In the poll, conducted by NPR/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/Harvard School of Public Health, 19 percent of respondents say that they were worried about diabetes, while only one in twenty Latinos mentioned cancer. Diabetes was a concern among immigrant and non-immigrant Latinos.
Despite this concern, a little over 50 percent of respondents said they did not have the means to pay for a major illness in the family. Researchers in the past have cited diabetes as a threat for Latino populations in the country. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hispanic adults were 1.7 times more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes than non-Hispanics white adults.
The poll surveyed Latinos with Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, South American and Central American heritage. Of those who received healthcare in the last 12 months, 19 percent said the services they received was poor or fair.
When asked about the communities they reside in, a majority of Latinos were unhappy with the quality of available housing, safety in their communities and transportation facilities.
[Harvard School of Public Health]
