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Agricultura y Recursos Naturales

Posts Tagged: ethnicity

Lung cancer incidence higher in US women than men

There is now a higher incidence of lung cancer in young women than young men in the USA, suggesting a reversal of historical incidence patterns, according to a recent report.

In a nationwide population-based study, Ahmedin Jemal (American Cancer Society, Atlanta, GA, USA) and colleagues examined data from the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries for cases of invasive lung cancer in patients aged 30–54 years who were diagnosed between 1995 and 2014 across 46 US states and the District of Columbia.

The incidence of lung cancer was analyzed according to patients' sex, race, ethnic group, age group, year of birth, and year of diagnosis. Female-to-male incidence rate ratios were calculated, and the prevalence of cigarette smoking was also examined by use of data from the National Health Interview Survey (1970–2016).

The results showed that age-specific incidence of lung cancer decreased overall in women and men aged 30–54 years across all races and ethnic groups over the past 20 years, but that the decline has been more rapid in men. The female-to-male incidence of lung cancer in non-Hispanic white individuals increased and was higher than 1·0 in the 30–34, 35–39, 40–44, and 45–49 years age groups. For example, in non-Hispanic white people aged 40–44 years, the female-to-male incidence rate ratio increased from 0·88 (95% CI 0·84–0·92) during 1995–99 to 1·17 (1·11–1·23) in 2010–14. Similar results were recorded in the Hispanic population, but not in other ethnic groups.

The prevalence of smoking in women born since 1965 approached—but did not exceed—that in men, suggesting that these findings cannot be explained by sex differences in smoking behaviors.

“Our findings portend higher overall lung cancer incidence rates in women than in men as younger cohorts age, underscoring the need for strengthening existing tobacco control programmes to reduce smoking among young women”, explained Jemal. “These results also call for aetiologic studies to understand the reasons for the higher lung cancer incidence rates in young women.”

“That women, at the same dose of cigarette exposure as men, may have higher susceptibility to lung cancer, has been argued for 25 years, and is an appropriate possible explanation for these interesting new findings”, commented Harvey Risch (Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA).

Source: Published originally on pewresearch.org, Lung cancer incidence higher in US women than men, by Elizabeth Gourd, June 1st, 2018.

Posted on Monday, August 13, 2018 at 7:13 AM
  • Author: The Lancet by Elizabeth Gourd

Latinos age slower than other ethnicities, UCLA study shows

A UCLA study is the first to show that Latinos age at a slower rate than other ethnic groups. The findings, published in the current issue of Genome Biology, may one day help scientists understand how to slow the aging process for everyone.

“Latinos live longer than Caucasians, despite experiencing higher rates of diabetes and other diseases. Scientists refer to this as the ‘Hispanic paradox,'” said lead author Steve Horvath, a professor of human genetics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “Our study helps explain this by demonstrating that Latinos age more slowly at the molecular level.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Latinos in the United States live an average of three years longer than Caucasians, with a life expectancy of 82 versus 79. At any age, healthy Latino adults face a 30 percent lower risk of death than other racial groups, according to a 2013 study in the American Journal of Public Health.

The UCLA team used several biomarkers, including an “epigenetic clock” developed by Horvath in 2013, to track an epigenetic shift in the genome that's linked to aging. Epigenetics is the study of changes to the DNA molecule that influence which genes are active but don't alter the DNA sequence.

Horvath and his colleagues analyzed 18 sets of data on DNA samples from nearly 6,000 people. The participants represented seven ethnicities: two African groups, African-Americans, Caucasians, East Asians, Latinos and an indigenous people called the Tsimane, who are genetically related to Latinos. The Tsimane live in Bolivia.

When the scientists examined the DNA from blood — which reveals the health of a person's immune system — they were struck by differences linked to ethnicity. In particular, the scientists noticed that, after accounting for differences in cell composition, the blood of Latinos and the Tsimane aged more slowly than other groups.

According to Horvath, the UCLA research points to an epigenetic explanation for Latinos' longer life spans. For example, the biological clock measured Latino women's age as 2.4 years younger than non-Latino women of the same age after menopause.

“We suspect that Latinos' slower aging rate helps neutralize their higher health risks, particularly those related to obesity and inflammation,” said Horvath, who is also a professor of biostatistics at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. “Our findings strongly suggest that genetic or environmental factors linked to ethnicity may influence how quickly a person ages and how long they live.”

The Tsimane aged even more slowly than Latinos. The biological clock calculated the age of their blood as two years younger than Latinos and four years younger than Caucasians. This reflects the group's minimal signs of heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, obesity or clogged arteries, the researchers said.

“Despite frequent infections, the Tsimane people show very little evidence of the chronic diseases that commonly afflict modern society,” said coauthor Michael Gurven, a professor of anthropology at UC Santa Barbara. “Our findings provide an interesting molecular explanation for their robust health.”

In another finding, the researchers learned that men's blood and brain tissue ages faster than women's from the same ethnic groups. The discovery could explain why women have a higher life expectancy than men.

Horvath and his colleagues next plan to study the aging rate of other human tissues and to identify the molecular mechanism that protects Latinos from aging.

The research was supported by grants from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the National Institute on Aging.

Source: Published originally on newsroom.ucla.edu as Latinos age slower than other ethnicities, UCLA study shows by Elaine Schmidt, August 16, 2016

Posted on Tuesday, September 6, 2016 at 7:45 AM

Mixed Marriages Causing US Hispanics, Asians to Integrate Faster

U.S. immigrants appear to be integrating faster than expected, according to a new report, which finds that the grandchildren of Hispanics and Asians are less likely to identify themselves by these ethnicities on government surveys than their parents and grandparents are.

This is especially true of children of mixed marriages.

“Most of this ethnic attrition, or most of this kind of missing identification, is from inter-marriage,” said economist Stephen Trejo of the University of Texas at Austin. “So, if both of my parents have Hispanic ancestry, then it's almost for sure that I'm labeled as Hispanic. But, if I only have Hispanic ancestry on one side of my family…and not the other, then there's a much lower rate of identification.”

In 2010, about 15 percent of all marriages in the United States were between spouses with a different race or ethnicity from each other. The percentages are even higher for Hispanics and Asians. Twenty-six percent of Hispanics and 28 percent of Asians married out, according to the Pew Research Center.

Marrying someone of a different race or ethnicity is much more common among the native-born population than among immigrants. Hispanics born in the United States are almost three times more to marry a non-Hispanic than foreign-born Hispanics.

Among Asians, 38 percent of the native-born and 24 percent of the foreign-born married a non-Asian.

Consequently, this third generation — the grandchildren of foreign-born Americans — is missing when experts like Trejo and fellow economist Brian Duncan from the University of Colorado, attempt to accurately measure the progress of those later generation groups.

“It's the less educated Asians that are more likely to intermarry and it's their kids that we're missing,” Trejo said, “and so, for the Asians, we're missing some of the lower educated individuals and so we're overstating their progress at least a bit.”

However, for Hispanics, the opposite appears to be true.

“For Hispanics, the people who intermarry tend to be higher educated and higher earning,” Trejo said. “What that means is that the people we are missing, children of mixed marriages, could be doing better but we don't see that in the data because they're missing.”

It's possible that in time, Asians and Hispanics will proudly reclaim their lost heritage as the Irish have done. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Irish newcomers faced virulent anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic sentiment. However, by 1980, when possessing Irish ancestry had become decidedly mainstream, the U.S. Census found that far more Americans claimed Irish ancestry than could be explained by immigration and birth patterns.

The same occurred with the Native American population.

“A lot more people in 1980 than in 1970 where choosing to report their race as Native American rather than white,” Trejo said. “And part of that was, I think, the awareness of Native Americans. There'd been a lot more publicity about Native Americans. Thing like that can happen and change these subjective identifications.”

It's also possible that this so-called ethnic attrition is a natural result of the American melting pot, when people from many different countries, races and religions come to the United States in search of a better life and intermarry and assimilate, eventually becoming one homogeneous population.

“In some ways, it is an example of the melting pot,” Trejo said. “Inter-marriage and identifying with the mainstream is, in some ways, a really strong indicator of assimilation and so, in that sense, it's a good thing.”

Source: Voice of America Blog, Mixed Marriages Causing US Hispanics, Asians to Integrate Faster, by Dora Mekouar, March 7, 2016.

Posted on Monday, June 13, 2016 at 10:14 AM

Afro-Latino: A deeply rooted identity among U.S. Hispanics

Identity for U.S. Hispanics is multidimensional and multifaceted. For example, many Hispanics tie their identity to their ancestral countries of origin – Mexico, Cuba, Peru or the Dominican Republic. They may also look to their indigenous roots. Among the many ways Hispanics see their identity is their racial background.

Afro-Latinos are one of these Latino identity groups. They are characterized by their diverse views of racial identity, reflecting the complex and varied nature of race and identity among Latinos. A Pew Research Center survey of Latino adults shows that one-quarter of all U.S. Latinos self-identify as Afro-Latino, Afro-Caribbean or of African descent with roots in Latin America. This is the first time a nationally representative survey in the U.S. has asked the Latino population directly whether they considered themselves Afro-Latino.

In the U.S., Latinos with Caribbean roots are more likely to identify as Afro-Latino or Afro-Caribbean than those with roots elsewhere (34% versus 22%, respectively). Those who identify as Afro-Latino are more concentrated on the East Coast and in the South than other Latinos (65% of Afro-Latinos live in these regions vs. 48% of other Latinos). They are also more likely than other Latinos to be foreign born (70% vs. 52%), less likely to have some college education (24% vs. 37%), and more likely to have lower family incomes. About six-in-ten Afro-Latinos reported family incomes below $30,000 in 2013, compared with about half of those who did not identify as Afro-Latino (62% vs. 47%).

Afro-Latinos' views of race are also unique. When asked directly about their race, only 18% of Afro-Latinos identified their race or one of their races as black. In fact, higher shares of Afro-Latinos identified as white alone or white in combination with another race (39%) or volunteered that their race or one of their races was Hispanic (24%). Only 9% identified as mixed race.

These findings reflect the complexity of identity and race among Latinos. For example, two-thirds of Latinos (67%) say their Hispanic background is a part of their racial background. This is in contrast to the U.S. Census Bureau's own classification of Hispanic identity – census survey forms have described “Hispanic” as an ethnic origin, not a race.

The multiple dimensions of Hispanic identity also reflect the long colonial history of Latin America, during which mixing occurred among indigenous Americans, white Europeans, slaves from Africa and Asians. In Latin America's colonial period, about 15 times as many African slaves were taken to Spanish and Portuguese colonies than to the U.S. Today, about 130 million people of African descent live in Latin America, making up roughly a quarter of the total population, according to estimates from the Project on Ethnicity and Race in Latin America (PERLA) at Princeton University.

Until recently, most Latin American countries did not collect official statistics on ethnicity or race, especially from populations with African origins. However, a recent push for official recognition of minority groups throughout Latin America has resulted in most countries collecting race and ethnicity data on their national censuses.

In 2015, for the first time ever, Mexico allowed people to identify as black or Afro-Mexican through a new question in its mid-decade survey. About 1.4 million Mexicans (or 1.2% of the population) self-identified as black or of African descent based on their culture, history or customs, according to Mexico's chief statistical agency.

Afro-Latinos make up significant shares of the population in some corners of Latin America. In Brazil, about half of the population is of African descent (black or mixed-race black). In the Caribbean, black Cubans make up about a third of that country's population. In the Dominican Republic, black identity is much more complicated. Estimates of Afro-descent in the Dominican Republic range from about a quarter to nearly 90% of the population depending on whether the estimates include those who identify as “indio,” a group that includes many nonwhites and mixed-race individuals with African ancestry.

Source: Pew Research Center, Afro-Latino: A deeply rooted identity among U.S. Hispanics, March 1, 2016.

 
Posted on Thursday, June 2, 2016 at 11:07 AM

The Limited English Proficient Population in the United States

The United States attracts immigrants from across the globe, who speak a diverse array of languages. In 2013, approximately 61.6 million individuals, foreign and U.S. born, spoke a language other than English at home. While the majority of these individuals also spoke English with native fluency or very well, about 41 percent (25.1 million) were considered Limited English Proficient (LEP). Limited English proficiency refers to anyone above the age of 5 who reported speaking English less than “very well,” as classified by the U.S. Census Bureau. Though most LEP individuals are immigrants, nearly 19 percent (4.7 million) were born in the United States, most to immigrant parents. Overall, the LEP population represented 8 percent of the total U.S. population ages 5 and older.

Between 1990 and 2013, the LEP population grew 80 percent from nearly 14 million to 25.1 million (see Figure 1). The growth of the LEP population during this period came largely from increases in the immigrant LEP population. The most dramatic increase occurred during the 1990s as the LEP population increased 52 percent. The growth rate then slowed in the 2000s and the size of the LEP population has since stabilized. Over the past two decades, the LEP share of the total U.S. population has increased from about 6 percent in 1990 to 8.5 percent in 2013.

Immigrants to the United States come from many different language backgrounds and may be in various stages of English proficiency. Of the total immigrant population of 41.3 million in 2013, about half was LEP.

Compared to the English-proficient population, the LEP population was less educated and more likely to live in poverty. Employed LEP men in 2013 were more likely to work in construction, natural resources, and maintenance occupations than English-proficient men, while LEP women were much more likely to be employed in service and personal-care occupations than English-proficient women.

As of 2013, the highest concentrations of LEP individuals were found in the six traditional immigrant-destination states—California (6.8 million, or 27 percent of the total LEP population), Texas (3.4 million, 14 percent), New York (2.5 million, 10 percent), Florida (2.1 million, 8 percent), Illinois (1.1 million, 4 percent), and New Jersey (1 million, 4 percent). Together, the top six states accounted for approximately two-thirds of the LEP population.

Eleven states had a higher share of LEP residents than the nationwide proportion of 8 percent. California had the highest share, with LEP individuals accounting for 19 percent of the state population.

Nativity

The foreign-born population was much more likely to have limited English proficiency than the native-born population. In 2013, about 50 percent of immigrants (20.4 million) were LEP, compared to 2 percent of the U.S.-born population.

In 2013, 81 percent of LEP individuals were immigrants. Of the total foreign-born LEP population, 39 percent were born in Mexico, followed by China (6 percent), El Salvador (4 percent), Vietnam (4 percent), Cuba (3 percent), and the Dominican Republic (3 percent). Foreign-born LEP individuals were less likely than the overall immigrant population to be naturalized citizens (36 percent versus 47 percent, respectively).

Of native-born LEP individuals, 14 percent were born in Puerto Rico and less than 2 percent were born in Mexico to at least one U.S.-citizen parent. Three percent were born abroad elsewhere to at least one U.S.-citizen parent, with the remaining 82 percent born in one of the 50 U.S. states or the District of Columbia.

Language Diversity

Spanish was the predominant language spoken by both immigrant and U.S.-born LEP individuals. About 64 percent (16.2 million) of the total LEP population spoke Spanish, followed by Chinese (1.6 million, or 6 percent), Vietnamese (847,000, 3 percent), Korean (599,000, 2 percent), and Tagalog (509,000, 2 percent). Close to 80 percent of the LEP population spoke one of these five languages.

There were marked differences, however, in the top languages spoken by LEP persons by nativity. 3, 77 percent (3.6 million) of the U.S.-born LEP population spoke Spanish, followed by German (140,000, or 3 percent), Chinese (116,000, 2 percent), French (82,000, 2 percent), and Vietnamese (80,000, 2 percent). Spanish was also the predominant language, spoken by about 62 percent (12.5 million) of immigrant LEP individuals. However, Asian languages were more likely to be spoken by the foreign-born LEP population, including Chinese (1.5 million, or 7 percent), Vietnamese (767,000, 4 percent), Korean (564,000, 3 percent), and Tagalog (484,000, 2 percent).

Age, Race, and Ethnicity

Compared to their English-proficient counterparts, LEP individuals were much less likely to be of school age and much more likely to be of working age. In 2013, 10 percent of LEP individuals were children between the ages 5 and 17, versus 19 percent of the English-proficient population.

LEP individuals were much more likely to be Latino or Asian than their English-proficient counterparts. While Latinos comprised 63 percent of the LEP population, they accounted for only 12 percent of the English-proficient population. Likewise, 21 percent of LEP individuals were Asian compared to only 4 percent of English-proficient individuals.

Education and Employment

In general, LEP adults were much less educated than their English-proficient peers. As of 2013, 46 percent of all LEP individuals ages 25 and over had no high school diploma compared to 10 percent of their English-proficient counterparts. About 14 percent of LEP adults had a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 31 percent of English-proficient adults.

LEP Children and English Language Learners

In 2013, of the 51.3 million children ages 5 to 17 in the United States, approximately 8 million (16 percent) lived with at least one LEP parent.

Among the 2.3 million children who were themselves LEP, 23 percent were foreign born. The remaining 77 percent (1.8 million) were U.S. born, with 77 percent (1.4 million) having at least one immigrant parent.

Source: Migration Policy Institute, The Limited English Proficient Population in the United States, July 8, 2015.

Posted on Monday, September 28, 2015 at 7:20 AM

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