Hispanic Americans constitute the largest minority group in the United States. This population is disproportionately affected by poor daily life conditions that are shaped by cultural values, education, income, social support systems and occupation, among others.

The leading causes of death among this population include cancer, cardiovascular diseases and accidents (unintentional injuries) (Velasco-Mondragon et al., 2016). This comes about due to the illnesses inherent with the population as a result of the relevant risk factors. The illness risk factors for the Hispanic Americans include exercise, nutrition, obesity, tobacco, metabolic syndrome and alcohol consumption.

Close to 42.5% of adult Hispanics are classified as being obese(Velasco-Mondragon et al., 2016). This is something that increases the risk of several associated health conditions. The beverage and food marketing towards this population has resulted in consumption of calorie-dense, low nutrient beverages and foods resulting in high obesity levels. Increased tobacco consumption is attributed to the tobacco industry utilizing custom advertising for Hispanics and their attempt to contribute financially towards the Hispanic community (Dominguez et al., 2015). With alcohol consumption, binge drinking associated with the population results in fatty liver disease development.

There are several options that the APN has to help overcome the inherent healthcare disparity among the Hispanic population. Among them is increasing cultural sensitivity among the healthcare workforce. This will enable them to handle this population appropriately hence being able to get to the root of the risk factors before things turn to worse. Expanding health care access will also be beneficial since it will help reduce acculturation health barriers due to the uninsured and underinsured status among most individuals in this population (Dominguez et al., 2015). Increasing the number of Hispanic healthcare providers will also help to conduct adequate research on matters pertaining to Hispanic health hence resulting in the development of effective long-term solutions.

References

Dominguez, K. et al. (2015). Vital Signs: Leading Causes of Death, Prevalence of Diseases and Risk Factors, and Use of Health Services Among Hispanics in the United States — 2009–2013. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep., 64(17), 469–478.

Velasco-Mondragon, E., Jimenez, A., Palladino-Davis, A., Davis, D., & Escamilla-Cejudo, J. (2016). Hispanic health in the USA: a scoping review of the literature. Public Health Reviews, 37(1).