Valley residents worse off in certain health categories than residents elsewhere

South Texas, including the Rio Grande Valley, has a higher prevalence of tuberculosis, diabetes, obesity, birth defects and certain types of cancer than the rest of Texas, according to a recent report.

Researchers at the Institute of Health Promotion Research at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio compiled local, state and national data on 32 conditions and found several disparities when comparing the health of residents of 38 South Texas counties to the rest of Texas and the nation.

For example, tuberculosis rates in South Texas are significantly higher than Texas' rates, with an average incidence of 9 per 100,000 people in South Texas compared to 7 per 100,000 in Texas from 2001 to 2005. The Valley's incidence of tuberculosis is even higher, at 14 per 100,000 people.

Some types of cancer also are more prevalent. Liver cancer, for example, appeared in about 10 per 100,000 South Texans, compared to about 6 per 100,000 statewide from 2000 to 2004. Childhood leukemia rates also were higher in South Texas, with 56 cases per 1 million children compared to 47 per 1 million statewide from 2000 to 2004.

"It's been long known, although only in anecdotal fashion, that many health problems unequally plague the largely Hispanic and Latino population of South Texas ... we wanted to collect and package data to statistically illustrate these health differences so that researchers and health-care workers could definitively know what disparities exist in South Texas," said Amelie Ramirez, director of the Institute of Health Promotion Research and the report's lead author, in a statement.

The two biggest disparities in South Texas are diabetes and obesity rates, Ramirez said.

"We did expect South Texas to suffer more obesity and diabetes than the rest of Texas and the nation, but the disparity was far greater than we thought," she said.

In South Texas, 30 percent of residents were obese, compared to 25 percent in Texas. As for diabetes, about 9 percent of South Texans have the condition, compared to 7 percent statewide.

Researchers at The University of Texas School of Public Health's Brownsville Regional Campus recently found that the obesity rates are even higher in the Valley - according to the school, 52 percent of Cameron County residents are obese, and those results could be generalized region-wide, researchers say.

The review's results are unsurprising but disturbing, said Dr. Brian Smith, regional director for Texas Department of State Health Services' Region 11, which includes the Valley.

"Obviously we have tremendous rates of obesity, and we need to address that," Smith said.

The Valley's communities need to work on creating a "culture of exercise" that would help encourage an active lifestyle, he said.

Many researchers and health-care providers were aware of these issues already, but compiling the data offers a more complete picture, said Dr. Leonel Vela, regional dean of the Regional Academic Health Center, which is part of UT Health Science Center at San Antonio. The RAHC was involved in compiling research for the report.

"It's a validation of (our observation of) health disparities, but even more importantly, it gives us a perspective on where we need to start focusing our education and research efforts," Vela said.

The picture wasn't entirely bleak. South Texas has a lower prevalence of some conditions than the rest of the state, including lower rates of HIV/AIDS, some sexually transmitted diseases, colon, prostate and lung cancer, infant death and suicide.
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Melissa McEver covers health and environment issues for Valley Freedom Newspapers. She is based in Harlingen and you can reach her at (956) 430-6252.

Health Conditions with Higher Rates in South Texas

• Tuberculosis
• Chlamydia
• Cervical cancer
• Liver cancer
• Stomach cancer
• Gallbladder cancer
• Child and adolescent leukemia
• Neural tube birth defects
• Other birth defects
• Adult diabetes
• Adult obesity
• Pesticide poisoning

Health Conditions with Lower Rates in South Texas
• HIV/AIDS
• Gonorrhea
• Syphilis
• Breast cancer
• Colorectal cancer
• Prostate cancer
• Breast cancer
• Lung cancer
• Infant deaths
• Heart-disease deaths
• Stroke deaths
• Motor-vehicle crash deaths
• Suicide