CDC Releases First National Study On Hispanic Health

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has completed its first national study on Hispanics' health risks, disease, causes of death and access to health services. The report shows there are differences in disease and health behaviors such as smoking and drinking among U.S. Hispanics from different countries.

The study also looked at differences in health between Hispanic groups in the U.S. and non-Hispanic whites, and found while the overall death rate among Hispanics is 24 percent lower than whites, Hispanics have "substantially higher" death rates for diabetes, chronic liver disease and homicide.

Dr. Ken Dominquez, a medical epidemiologist with the CDC and lead author of the study, tells Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson about some of the findings and some of the risk factors that account for the differences in health.