A comparison of physical health, mental health and health service-seeking among Latino Americans in the US

There is ample research showing there are health disparities for minorities with respect to seeking mental health services in the US. Although there are general barriers for minorities in health service seeking, Latino women are more vulnerable due to their negative experience and lower satisfaction in receiving health care as compared to Latino men. Latino Americans are the largest minority population in the US. We analyzed the chronic, behavioral, mental health and health care service seeking of Latina American women and compared them to those of Latino American men. Using the first epidemiological nationally representative sample (n=2,554) from the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS), we examined the annual rates of chronic, behavioral, and mental healthcare service utilization including general medical, specialty mental health, and any medical services in three major subgroups of Latino American: Cuban, Mexican and Puerto Rican American. The NLAAS questionnaire was available in both English and Spanish. Respondents were asked the types of mental health services they used with questions such as “How many visits did you make to a psychiatrist, psychologist, other mental health professional, general practitioner, nurse… in the past 12 months?” Satisfaction with care received was asked with “In general, how satisfied are you with the treatments and services you received from (service provider) in the past 12 months?” Chronic health problems varied with three major subgroups of Latino Americans. In physical health, Puerto Rican American women reported the highest rate of allergies and asthma, while Puerto Rican American men reported high rates of cardiovascular disease. All three subgroups of Latina American women reported having high body mass indices, while both male and females of all groups reported having similar rates of major depression diagnosis. Cuban American women saw their general practitioner most frequently (7%), while Puerto Rican American men visited other health care providers (such as nurses, counselors, mental health provider) most frequently (6.7%) in the past 12 months. Latina Americans encountered various physical, behavioral, and mental health problems and yet had low health care service-seeking rates. Latinas and Latinos have similar and different rates in various health issues. Therefore, it is critical to further examine factors associated with the underestimation of physical and mental health problems and underutilization of health services in Latina/o American population.