Changes seen in mortality patterns among Hispanic groups in pandemic

During the pandemic, there were changes in mortality patterns among Hispanic/Latino groups, according to a study published online March 5 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Jianwen Cai, Ph.D., from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and colleagues describe cumulative all-cause mortality by Hispanic/Latino background before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in a prospective, multicenter cohort study. Data were included for 15,568 adults aged 18 to 74 years at baseline in 2008 to 2011; vital status was ascertained through December 2021 (969 deaths were recorded during 173,444 person-years of follow-up).

The researchers found that the 11-year cumulative age- and sex-adjusted mortality risks were higher in the Puerto Rican and Cuban groups and lowest in the South American group before the pandemic (6.3, 5.7, and 2.4 percent, respectively). With adjustment for lifestyle and clinical factors, differences were attenuated.

The two-year cumulative age- and sex-adjusted mortality risks varied from 1.1 to 2.0 percent for South American and Central American groups, respectively, during the pandemic; confidence intervals overlapped across groups. Two-year cumulative mortality risks were highest for those of Central and Mexican American backgrounds and lowest among those of Puerto Rican and Cuban backgrounds, after adjustment for lifestyle factors.

"Our findings suggest a change in order of mortality by Hispanic/Latino background during the pandemic," the authors write. "Lifestyle characteristics and chronic disease risk factors and conditions explained the differences in 11-year cumulative mortality risk before the pandemic and seemed to play a role in the alteration in mortality patterns during the pandemic."

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