Hispanic Environmental and Socio-Economic Issues: Comparative Perspectives from US States and Puerto Rico

Environmental pollution is often observed to cause disproportionate distribution of environmental harm to ethnic and racial minorities, low-income and other disadvantaged social groups. Previous economic studies discovered a relationship between ethnic origin and exposure to harmful environmental toxins that impair human health. However, no such research was conducted comparing US states with large and diverse US Hispanic communities (California, Texas, Florida, Arizona, and New Mexico) and Puerto Rico. Thus, a highly granular set of demographic and economic data was analyzed from the US Census, combined with the latest available healthcare data from the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) and environmental pollution data from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Independent variables were selected from a variety of environmental pollution factors. The dependent variables were designated as Health Equity outcomes measured by the prevalence of three main illnesses: asthma, diabetes, and coronary heart disease. Pair correlations were then explored to determine the most important determinants of health outcomes and evaluated three study hypotheses. Multivariable linear regression analysis was used to evaluate health equity for several US states with a large Hispanic population. The analysis shows that the Puerto Rico population has been more negatively impacted by environmental and social factors than the majority Hispanic US mainland districts. Across the compared states, California had the worst environmental pressure, Arizona and Puerto Rico the most negative economic status and worst health outcomes. Overall, Florida had the best mix of outcomes for the Hispanic community.