First National Report on Hispanic Health a Mix of Good and Bad News

"Buenos dias," Dr. Tom Frieden, CDC director, said to reporters at the beginning of a media briefing Tuesday to announce results from the first national study on Hispanic health risks and leading causes of death in the United States, information directed toward the nearly 57 million Hispanics in the United States and their health care providers. The news is both good and bad, Frieden said. Overall, Hispanics fare better than their non-Hispanic white peers when it comes to their health, in spite of the greater socioeconomic burdens from higher poverty rates, language barriers and a lower number of insured individuals. The two leading causes of death in Hispanics are cancer and heart disease, respectively.