New study shows change in mortality patterns in Hispanic and Latino adults

March 11, 2024

Dr. Jianwen Cai

Jianwen Cai, PhD, Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor in the Department of Biostatistics at the Gillings School, and colleagues recently published a study in Annals of Internal Medicine titled “Cumulative All-Cause Mortality in Diverse Hispanic/Latino Adults.”

In this paper, more than 15,000 adults of Central American, Cuban, Dominican, Mexican, Puerto Rican and South American backgrounds were included from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL) and researchers found that the patterns of all-cause mortality among these groups were altered during the COVID-19 pandemic. They also found that people with Central American and Mexican backgrounds appeared to be more affected than any other group.

“The landmark multi-center HCHS/SOL study, is the largest, comprehensive, longitudinal community-based cohort study to date of diverse Hispanic/Latino persons in the US,” says Dr. Cai. “Our study is also the first comprehensive report on mortality risk across Hispanic/Latino background groups from HCHS/SOL, and it demonstrates sizeable variations in mortality risks across groups.”

The Collaborative Studies Coordinating Center, part of the Department of Biostatistics at the Gillings School, serves as the study’s coordinating center. The collaboration of Gillings’ faculty, staff and students from multiple departments on the project has been ongoing since 2007. Additional UNC-CH co-authors on the paper include Gerardo Heiss, PhD, W.R. Kenan, JR. Distinguished Professor, Wayne Rosamond, PhD, Marston Youngblood, MA, and former graduate student Pedro Baldoni, PhD 2020.