Latino men who are more adapted to U.S. culture are more likely to quit smoking than their less-acculturated counterparts, according to research by The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center released Dec. 3, 2009, from the December issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. The study of 271 Latino smokers who called a Spanish-language smoking cessation quitline examined the influence of gender and indicators of acculturation on the ability to quit smoking. Men who had been in the U.S. for up to five years had about 20 percent smoking abstinence rate at three months after the quitline program. But more than 35 percent of men who had been in the U.S. for 23-76 years abstained. Those who preferred to view news and entertainment mainly or exclusively in English ...
Latinos are less likely to die from cancer than other groups, but have higher rates of cancers related to infections (stomach, liver and cervix) and are more likely to be diagnosed at an advanced stage of the disease, according to Cancer Facts & Figures for Hispanics 2009-2011, a new American Cancer Society report. For many cancer types, Hispanics are far more likely than whites to be diagnosed in advanced stages of disease, when the cancer is likely to be less treatable. The report highlights the need for programs that target Hispanics, from addressing disparities in income, education, and access to health care to better understanding cultural values and ...
Ask Estefanía Evia Villareal (pictured) the best thing about not smoking any more and the 21-year-old will give you a variety of answers, beginning with the way she feels every morning when she wakes up. “First of all," she said, "that feeling of being fresh – being clean, fresh, the smell of my sheets and my clothes, (the feeling in) my mouth, my throat." Estefanía, a recent graduate of UT San Antonio who plans to get her teaching certificate so she can eventually teach elementary school children, had been a smoker for the past five years, starting in high school. Earlier this year she decided to kick the habit. It took a little while and there were some stops and starts, but when she finally quit smoking, she did it one day at a time. She walks for an hour three times a ...
Temperatures soared higher than 100 degrees this July in South Padre Island, Texas, but it didn’t matter to Greg Ayer and his 19-month old daughter, Pamela (pictured). Pamela, who has neuroblastoma, a type of cancer, was thrilled at her first trip to Schlitterbahn Waterpark. “She had a blast for being 19 months old. She rode four rides,” said Greg Ayer, who brings Pamela to her doctor’s appointments in South Texas’ Lower Rio Grande Valley. “Two months before that, she wasn’t even walking!” The Ayers were among 220 patients and families from Driscoll Children’s Hospital Specialty Center in Brownsville who went to Schlitterbahn on July 30 thanks in part to the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, the team behind ...
Check out these upcoming events on health disparities: 3rd Annual Conference on Health Disparities
Morehouse School of Medicine, the Medical University of South Carolina, and the Congressional Tri-Caucus will host the third annual Conference on Health Disparities Dec. 2-5, 2009 in Atlanta, Georgia. This event will focus on bringing equity and justice to health care reform. National Hispanic Health Foundation Scholarship Dinner
The National Hispanic Medical Association's National Hispanic Health Foundation will host its 6th Annual Scholarship Dinner Dec. 3, 2009 in New York City. With support from its partners, the foundation will have provided at least $238,000 in awards to health students who have excellent academic achievement, leadership and commitment to delivering care to the ...
A recent study confirm trends that different Hispanic subpopulations have higher incidence rates of certain cancers and worse cancer outcomes if they live in the U.S., than they do if they live in their homelands. “Hispanics are not all the same in their cancer experience,” said the study’s lead researcher Dr. Paulo S. Pinheiro of the University of Miami School of Medicine. “Targeted interventions for cancer prevention and control should take into account the specificity of each Hispanic subgroup: Cubans, Puerto Ricans or Mexicans.” The study, published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, indicated that different Hispanic population groups showed different patterns of cancer. Mexicans had the lowest rates of cancer overall; Puerto Ricans had the highest ...
Rosalie Rodriguez (pictured at left) has been a smoker for the past 14 years – pretty much all of her adult life. Now she’s ready to change that, and she’s set a date to quit. What made her quit? Rosalie considered quitting for the sake of her own health after her father, a smoker for 38 years, developed bladder cancer as a result of smoking. “I had never even heard of cancer of the bladder being caused by smoking,” said Rosalie. “But then I thought, you know what? I need to stop because (smoking can lead to) lung cancer and heart disease – all that and more.” She has another big reason for quitting – her 14-year-old son. “I’m doing it for health reasons because I want to be there as long as I can to see my son and his kids and to have a longer life," she ...
“The State of Latino Arizona” report highlights challenges and issues faced by the Latino community in areas such as economics, education, health, politics and the arts, and it suggests policy implications for the future. The report was led by the Arizona Latino Research Enterprise and Arizona State University (ASU). More than a dozen ASU faculty, staff and student researchers, as well as writers and researchers from the community, worked on the report over the course of the past year. Key findings are: The Arizona Latino population is young and mostly of Mexican origin.
Latino students struggle to achieve academic success relative to their Anglo and Asian peers, regardless of grade, subject matter or income level.
Latinos attained only 13 percent of bachelor’s ...
Need inspiration or help finding the way to quit smoking? There is good news: The Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR), the team behind SaludToday, has developed ¡Buena Vida! A Guide to Help You Quit Smoking. The booklet offers info, tools and tips for quitting smoking, and tells the stories of five Latinos who have quit, like Estefanía Villareal (pictured at left). Read the booklet in English. Read the booklet in Spanish. Find out more about the IHPR's materials to help Latinos quit ...
