Health Advantages of Ethnic Density for African American and Mexican American Elderly Individuals

Research suggests that greater ethnic density correlates with worse health among African Americans but better health among Hispanic Americans. These conflicting patterns may arise from Hispanic American samples being older than African American samples. We found that among 2367 Mexican American and 2790 African American participants older than 65 years, ethnic density predicted lower rates of cardiovascular disease and cancer, adjusting for covariates, showing that the health benefits of ethnic density apply to both minority communities. (Am J Public Health. 2012;102:2240-2242. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2012.300787)