The Mexican American syndrome.

Abstract

DUBLIC health problems in the Mexican American barrio (community) can be appreciated if one considers the incidence of reportable diseases in health districts in which Mexican Americans comprise the ethnic majority. The morbidity and mortality rates among them generally run two or three times higher than for the dominant Anglo culture group.1'2 In Los Angeles County, it has been found that the incidence rates for most reportable diseases are higher in the two Mexican American districts than in the county as a whole.2 The greatest differences were found in rates of diseases associated with poor sanitary conditions. The tuberculosis case rate was more than double the county rate.2 The syphilis case rate had more than doubled in the East and Northeast Health Districts.2 A low rate of hospital admissions and medical attention occurred despite high rates of bacterial and parasitic infections, circulatory disease, and accidents. Immunizations were two-thirds under what is considered adequate. Untreated medical conditions commonly observed included skin infections, diarrhea, tonsillitis, iron deficiency anemia, and pregnancy without prenatal care. Pregnancy without prenatal care was of particular interest since a perinatal mortality 10 per cent higher than in the rest of the state has been reported from predominantly Mexican American health districts.' The Mexican Americans constitute a cultural entity-in various phases of adaptation to a changing society. They have been described as dumb, dirty, lazy; as fatalistic voodoo practicers of a criminal mentality.3 The Mexican American represents a larger ethnic minority group than the Negro population in the state of California. This is 10 to 15 per cent of the population depending on the region and source of reference. Metropolitan Los Angeles acquired so many Spanish-speaking residents that it qualified for a time as one of the largest Latin American metropolitan areas in the Western Hemisphere.4 Fanon's5 observations on the oral traditions that perpetuated the North African Syndrome led this investigator to look for similar causes which might contribute to the Mexican American Syndrome. It has been pointed out that: