TY - JOUR
T1 - The Disproportionate Impact of COVID-19 on Older Latino Mortality
T2 - The Rapidly Diminishing Latino Paradox
AU - Saenz, Rogelio
AU - Garcia, Marc A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/3/1
Y1 - 2021/3/1
N2 - Objectives: This brief report aims to highlight stark mortality disparities among older Latinos that result from the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods: We use recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to compute age-specific death rates (ASDRs) for 3 causes of death: deaths from COVID-19, residual deaths, and total deaths for 4 age groups (55-64, 65-74, 75-84, and 85 and older) to assess the impact of COVID-19 on older Latino mortality relative to non-Latino Whites and non-Latino Blacks and also in comparison to residual deaths. Additionally, we obtain ASDRs for all causes of deaths from 1999 to 2018 to provide a pre-pandemic context and assess the extent to which the consistently observed mortality advantage among Latinos persists during the pandemic. Results: Consistent with previous research, our findings show that Latinos have lower ASDRs for non-COVID-19 causes of death across all age groups compared to non-Latino Whites. However, our findings indicate that Latinos have significantly higher ASDRs for COVID-19 deaths than non-Latino Whites. Furthermore, although the Latino advantage for total deaths persists during the pandemic, it has diminished significantly compared to the 1999-2018 period. Discussion: Our findings indicate that as a result of the pandemic, the time-tested Latino paradox has rapidly diminished due to higher COVID-19 mortality among older Latino adults compared to non-Latino Whites. Future research should continue to monitor the impact of COVID-19 to assess the disparate impact of the pandemic on older non-Latino Black, Latino, and non-Latino White adults as additional data become available.
AB - Objectives: This brief report aims to highlight stark mortality disparities among older Latinos that result from the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods: We use recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to compute age-specific death rates (ASDRs) for 3 causes of death: deaths from COVID-19, residual deaths, and total deaths for 4 age groups (55-64, 65-74, 75-84, and 85 and older) to assess the impact of COVID-19 on older Latino mortality relative to non-Latino Whites and non-Latino Blacks and also in comparison to residual deaths. Additionally, we obtain ASDRs for all causes of deaths from 1999 to 2018 to provide a pre-pandemic context and assess the extent to which the consistently observed mortality advantage among Latinos persists during the pandemic. Results: Consistent with previous research, our findings show that Latinos have lower ASDRs for non-COVID-19 causes of death across all age groups compared to non-Latino Whites. However, our findings indicate that Latinos have significantly higher ASDRs for COVID-19 deaths than non-Latino Whites. Furthermore, although the Latino advantage for total deaths persists during the pandemic, it has diminished significantly compared to the 1999-2018 period. Discussion: Our findings indicate that as a result of the pandemic, the time-tested Latino paradox has rapidly diminished due to higher COVID-19 mortality among older Latino adults compared to non-Latino Whites. Future research should continue to monitor the impact of COVID-19 to assess the disparate impact of the pandemic on older non-Latino Black, Latino, and non-Latino White adults as additional data become available.
KW - COVID-19
KW - Mortality
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U2 - 10.1093/geronb/gbaa158
DO - 10.1093/geronb/gbaa158
M3 - Article
C2 - 32898235
AN - SCOPUS:85102211523
SN - 1079-5014
VL - 76
SP - E81-E87
JO - Journals of Gerontology - Series B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
JF - Journals of Gerontology - Series B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
IS - 3
ER -