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“Study goals include studying the prevalence and development of disease in Hispanics/Latinos, the role of acculturation, and to identify risk factors that play protective or harmful roles in Hispanics/Latinos,” reads the study mission statement. “The target population of 16,000 persons of Hispanic/Latino origin, specifically Cuban, Puerto Rican, Mexican, and Central/South American, to be recruited through four Field Centers affiliated with San Diego State University, Northwestern University in Chicago, Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx area of New York, and the University of Miami. Seven additional academic centers serve as scientific and logistical support centers.”

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The report, entitled the “Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL),” was compiled as an effort to help individuals, communities, scientists, and health policy makers to tailor health intervention initiatives to improve the health of all Hispanics in the United States.

Not only did the research focus on existing knowledge regarding Hispanic health, some new trends were uncovered.

The findings included:

• About 1 in 3 individuals had pre-diabetes, also fairly evenly distributed among Hispanic groups.
• Only about half of individuals with diabetes among all Hispanic groups had it under control.
• The percentage of people who reported having asthma ranged from 7.4 (among those of Mexican ancestry) to 35.8 (among those of Puerto Rican ancestry).
• The percentage of individuals with hypertension ranged from 20.3 (South American) to 32.2 (Cuban).
• The percentage of people eating five or more servings of fruits/vegetables daily ranged from 19.2 (Puerto Rican origin) to 55.0 (Cuban origin).
• Hispanic men reported consuming more fruit and vegetables than women.
• Women reported a much lower consumption of sodium than men among all Hispanic groups represented in the study.