A MUCH clearer picture of the health of Americans of Spanish origin is becoming available as the analyses of the data gathered from 1982 through 1984 by the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (HANES) are published. This effort, the first special population health survey ever conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, studied Cuban Americans, Mexican Americans, and Puerto Ricans residing in the continental United States.
"The Hispanic population is the second largest minority group in the United States and the fastest growing. Yet little has been known about their general health and nutritional status," says Robert S. Murphy, who is Director of the Division of Health Examination Statistics at the National Center for Health Statistics (Am J Public Health. 1990;80:1429).
The Hispanic survey covers some major health issues in the group that is expected soon to be the largest minority group of Americans, says Murphy. He cites