Cuban American Research Articles

The declining symbolic significance of the embargo for South Florida's Cuban Americans

The latest survey – in a series extending from 1991 to 2008 – shows for the first time that the US trade embargo no longer enjoys majority support among South Florida's Cuban Americans. This erosion of support may not be entirely a result of the failure of the embargo to accomplish its proclaimed goal. Nearly 50 years of economic sanctions against Cuba have not precipitated the Castro regime's compliance or collapse. Yet, majority support for the embargo was sustained across all Cuban American immigration cohorts and generations in a 2004 survey (N=1807). Significantly, the same survey shows that specific components of a full embargo – banning or restricting food, medicine and travel – obtained no more than minority support in any cohort arriving after 1981. This apparent discrepancy suggests that the embargo – embedded in an “exile ideology” – had become a more palatable, over-arching anti-Castro symbol than have specific anti-Castro sanctions. Logistic Regression results show that with respect to anti-Castro measures, sanctions incurring tangible costs generate the greatest disagreement among South Florida's Cuban Americans. Ultimately, in December 2008, even a largely symbolic expression of the exile ideology, Republican registration, was no longer embraced by a majority of Cuban Americans who had either recently immigrated or were born outside Cuba.

Waist circumference and BMI in relation to serum high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) in Cuban Americans with and without type 2 diabetes.

Relationship between high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and adiposity by diabetes status and gender in Cuban-Americans with and without type 2 diabetes (T2D) was studied. Adult subjects, 226 females, 129 males participated in a case control, single time point study. Subjects with T2D were older, had higher waist circumference (WC) and body mass index (BMI). WC and BMI were associated with ln hs-CRP (P < 0.001). An interaction with diabetes status was found for BMI (P = 0.037). Gender showed a strong relationship with ln hs-CRP (P < 0.001), which was moderated by diabetes status. Only males without diabetes exhibited a significant relationship for both WC and BMI with ln hs-CRP. In this sample of Cuban-Americans, WC and BMI had stronger associations with ln hs-CRP but not with diabetes status. Obesity prevention and controlling for CRP levels may be necessary to eliminate its contributions to develop diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Whose José Martí?

Whose José Martí? Elizabeth Horan (bio) Translating Empire: José Martí, Migrant Latino Subjects, and American Modernities. By Laura Lomas. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2008. 379 pages. $89.95 (cloth). $24.95 (paper). Martyrdom has guaranteed José Martí's central role in articulating Cuban nationalism, often in ways that have contradicted some of his most strongly held ideas.1 Monuments in the United States and Cuba demonstrate the hagiographic dimensions that have made Martí studies into a battleground. Oscar Montero addresses this problem by opening his very accessible "life and works" study with a description of the well-known bronze equestrian statue of Martí in Bolívar Plaza, that is, at the perimeter of New York's Central Park, heading up Sixth Avenue, which Mayor Fiorella LaGuardia renamed "Avenue of the Americas" in 1945.2 Unlike the securely mounted, upright figures of San Martín and Bolívar to his left and right, Martí, the central rider, reels and falls from his horse as he receives his mortal wound. Translating Empire offers a very different kind of anecdote, as Laura Lomas brings her reader to the site of another bronze statue of the poet, at the José Martí Anti-Imperialist Tribunal in Havana. Here is Martí, larger than life, but wearing his frock coat as always, facing the office building that houses "the drab, fenced-in, U.S. Interest Section" (247). In one arm he cradles a child that suggests both Pepe, Martí's Cuban son, and Elián González, whose controversial migration provided the occasion for creating and placing the statue, while his other arm is outstretched, accusingly pointing "at the office building and the island's northern neighbor" (ibid.). Although the Castro-era statue wears a stern, even angry visage, Cubans joke that the figure is advising his young charge, "There, hijo, is where to apply for your visa" (ibid.). Apart from Martí's radically anti-imperialist views, the anecdote's grim humor gestures toward the present challenge: how to live with the seemingly inevitable migration of the young. Contrasting with the pathos of the equestrian statue and the ire of the accusatory pointer are the intimate, almost saintly busts of the poet that proliferate across the island, set in front of primary schools, according to U.S.-Cuban [End Page 181] anthropologist Ruth Behar. My colleague Lynn Stoner, a historian of Cuba, describes these little white busts that people set in their homes as constituting a kind of shorthand for the shared belief that they live in a just society.3 Certainly Martí's emphases on migration, U.S. imperialism, and racial brotherhood are key aspects of the poet portrayed in Translating Empire. In contrast to these features are the claims of Carlos Ripoll, a major Cuban American scholar of Martí's poetry. For Ripoll, the poet exemplifies the high intellectual quality of Cuban nationalism and the superiority of Cuban Americans as political exiles rather than economic migrants.4 Lomas, by contrast, pointedly refuses the term exile to describe Martí. Instead, she uses the phrase "migrant Latino subject" to represent Martí as a stateless writer who worked as a translator and who lived between languages during his fifteen years' residence in the United States, from 1880 to 1895. Divisions between Martí scholars reflect the unresolved question of what it means to be Cuban. Lomas and others walk a fine line between stressing the writer's self-identification as a Cuban nationalist and the concern with transnationalism that appears throughout his writing and in a good part of the scholarship on his work. Above and beyond nationalist versus transnationalist divisions is the further challenge of writing about a man whose life and death led to his being widely termed "the Apostle of Independence." A figure at once inviting and admonitory, José Martí y Pérez (1853–1895) is a mystical memory among Cubans. The Cuban-born son of impoverished Spaniards—his father served in the colonial police—José Martí was just nine years old when he witnessed the unloading of slave ships and the public hanging of a man who'd tried to escape. As a teenager, he and a wealthy companion founded a liberationist newspaper. Caught...

"Oh, You Speak English So Well!": U.S. American Listeners' Perceptions of "Foreignness" among Nonnative Speakers

"Oh, You Speak English So Well!":U.S. American Listeners' Perceptions of "Foreignness" among Nonnative Speakers Aaron Castelán Cargile (bio), Eriko Maeda (bio), Jose Rodriguez (bio), and Marc Rich (bio) I work in a bank and I'm constantly helping customers. Most of the time I can just tell by the way that they look at me, that they don't expect me to have very good English skills. They probably think I speak with an accent, because when I do talk most of them will say, "Oh, you speak English so well! You were born here weren't you?" When I sit back and think about it, you know, they've judged me and I know it's because of the way I look. —Student journal entry The united states is a country of immigrants, yet some citizens are considered more foreign than others. The most striking example of this is undoubtedly the internment of Japanese American citizens during World War II. As the officer in charge of the Western Defense, Lieutenant General John L. DeWitt, said at the time, "You needn't worry about the Italians at all except in certain cases. Also, the same for the Germans except for individual cases. But we must worry about the Japanese all the time until he is wiped off the map."1 Of course, such race-based discrimination is no longer allowable under law. Even so, the country's long history of differentiating immigrants on the basis of national origin suggests that not all U.S. citizens are perceived to be equally "American," even today. Soon after the country was founded, the Naturalization Act of 1795 set the parameters for who could become a citizen: free, white persons.2 Although persons of non-European origin were integral to the founding (and literal building) of the country, they did not "belong" in the sense [End Page 59] that they were entitled to the rights and privileges of citizenship. With passage of the Fourteenth Amendment, however, the first nonwhites became eligible for citizenship: "Africans" were allowed to become "American" after the Civil War. Despite this victory for civil rights, the change in the law served to further alienate persons from Latin America and Asia; their status as "outsiders" was now firmly fixed in "a society only able to see in black and white."3 Nearly a century later, immigration and nationality acts had finally lifted racial restrictions on citizenship and had abolished national-origin quotas for immigration. By 1968, civil rights laws stipulated that a person's race or place of origin could no longer be used to deny him or her access to the American dream. Even so, centuries of practice judging "fit" and "belonging" among the population meant that related attitudes and customs did not disappear overnight. Indeed, even at the beginning of the twenty-first century, people are still deciding which fellow immigrants and citizens should be considered "real" Americans. Undoubtedly, among the most significant events in the new century have been the attacks of September 11, 2001. The experience surfaced fault lines drawn long ago to distinguish European American "selves" from non-European American "others." Whereas before the attacks Americans of Arab descent or Islamic religious beliefs had lived in relative tranquility, afterward they found themselves under surveillance and under assault as enemy "others."4 These post-9/11 fault lines were so broad that almost any non-European, non-Christian attribute qualified an American for suspicion. For example, the first post-9/11 hate-crime murder victim, Balbair Singh Sodhi, was neither Arab nor Muslim—he was an immigrant from India of the Sikh faith. Likewise, one Cuban American author of this study has been repeatedly subjected to added airport security screenings that fellow authors of ascribed European American heritage have not. As much as September 11 dramatically resurfaced questions about who "belongs," it is important to recognize that the questions had never really disappeared. Indeed, practices and judgments that continue to "otherize" people of color—including those of Latin or Asian descent—keep occurring. For example, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency officials routinely deport U.S. citizens of Latin origin and/or descent as [End...

Coronary Heart Disease Risk in Cuban Americans with and without Type 2 Diabetes

Background and AimsCoronary heart disease can be greatly reduced by lifestyle changes. The death rate from diabetes for Cuban Americans is more than twice that for non-Hispanic Whites; yet, recent studies of risk factors and health outcomes for Cuban Americans are lacking. The purpose of this study was to assess dietary, biometric and clinical predictors of coronary heart disease (CHD) in Cuban Americans by diabetes status and gender. Secondary objectives were to assess predictors of the incidence of stroke, angina and coronary or peripheral artery disease (CAD/PAD). Methods and ResultsCuban American adults: N = 367; 190 with type 2 diabetes (72 males, 118 females) and 177 (59 males, 118 females) without diabetes were recruited from a randomly generated mailing list from Broward and Miami-Dade counties, Florida, USA. Significant differences in predictors of CHD risk were found by gender and diabetes status. As expected, we found a positive association between diabetes and stroke; however, female participants were less likely to report having stable angina than male participants. The probable CAD/PAD was predicted by SBP and age; whereas, probable unstable angina was associated with family history of coronary heart disease, being male and smoking.ConclusionsWe found gender and diabetes status delineated risk factor patterns among a Cuban American sample. These findings suggest the need to revise health policies to promote early screening and aggressive treatment of CHD risk factors for both men and women. Prospective studies of CHD risk factors and mortality for Cuban Americans are warranted.

Messy moods: Nostalgia and other nagging feelings in Oscar Hijuelos's The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love

Critics tend to dismiss nostalgia as a “bad” form of feeling: its turn to the past is perceived as a disengagement from the present and as indicative of a generally uncritical or, worse, conservative stance. I show how Oscar Hijuelos's novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love puts pressure on critics’ reading of Cuban American nostalgia as a feeling that tells us how Cuban immigrants negotiate their past, but appears to say little about their present reality in the United States. Instead, The Mambo Kings suggests how nostalgia is tied to the specific context of Cuban American lives in the United States and the real and imaginary spaces assigned to them there. I maintain it needs to be apprehended in close relation to other structures of feelings, including the “ugly” feeling of racialized animatedness in the United States. Recognizing nostalgia's significance does not warrant a disengagement from how it relates to specific racial, political, sexual, class and gender formations – something for which Oscar Hijuelos's novel rightly has been faulted.

Hispanic Americans Baseline Alcohol Survey (HABLAS): Alcohol-Related Problems Across Hispanic National Groups

The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence and correlates of alcohol-related problems across four Hispanic national groups: Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans, and South/Central Americans. Using a multistage cluster sample design, 5,224 individuals ages 18 years and older were selected from the household population of five U.S. metropolitan areas: Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Houston, and Los Angeles. Cuban Americans had the lowest prevalence of alcohol-related problems. Significant differences across national group for zero versus two or more problems and for one versus two or more problems existed among men. Puerto Rican women were most likely to report two or more problems. The presence of zero versus two or more problems varied significantly across groups. There was variation in problem type across national groups among both men and women. Regression analyses showed that all groups were more likely than Cuban Americans to report two or more problems (vs zero) (Puerto Ricans: odds ratio [OR] = 2.02, p < .05; Mexican Americans: OR = 2.92, p < or = .01; South/Central Americans: OR = 2.12, p < or = .01). Being U.S. born (vs foreign born) increased the likelihood of experiencing one (OR = 1.57, p < .05) and two or more problems (OR = 1.95, p < or = .01). The volume of consumption was associated with problems (one problem: OR = 1.16, p < or = .01; two or more problems: OR = 1.31, p < or = .01). Heavy episodic drinking less than once a month was associated with two or more problems (OR = 6.15, p < or = .01). Heavy episodic drinking one or more times a month was associated with one problem (OR = 1.74, p < or = .01) and two or more problems (OR = 3.18, p < or = .01). It is important to recognize that Hispanics are not a homogenous group.

“Her body was my country”: Gender and Cuban-American exile-community nationalist identity in the work of Gustavo Pérez Firmat

In this essay, I examine the work of Gustavo Perez Firmat, a well-published, exile-identified Cuban-American writer. In many ways, his Next Year in Cuba: A Cubano's Coming-of-Age in America and his Life on the Hyphen: The Cuban American Way are illustrative of the exile-imagined nation. In these texts, Perez Firmat, like many exile writers, locates the “real” Cuba in a grand past and a triumphant future – a future without Castro. He employs a disturbing sort of erasure that claims Cuba for “real” Cubans, that is, those elites who left after the revolution. To a startling degree, Perez Firmat participates in the acutely gendered dimensions of Cuban exile-community nationalism and politics, even as he constructs a complex sense of biculturated identity. His work, which includes essay, criticism, fiction and poetry, continues to configure Cuba as a mother – often fearsome and castrating. However, Perez Firmat defines Cuban and Cuban-American identity not merely as a matter of male honor, but as a matter of white, male privilege and unquestioned, hyper-heterosexual masculinity. In Perez Firmat's work, maternal bodies – coded as monstrous or as part of Cuba's oceanic landscape itself – serve to illustrate a sense of emasculation and powerlessness.

Washington-Miami-Havana 1999-2009: Towards the End of a Ménage à Trois?

Although comparatively recent immigrants and a very small group of hardly more than 1.3 million, Cuban Americans have been very influential in Washington’s confrontational policy toward Cuba over the past thirty years. While the end of the Cold War should have undermined the rationale for the embargo, they maintained a hard line on Cuba and proved quite convincing in their arguments with both the Clinton and the George W. Bush Administrations. This piece focuses on the past decade and will explore Washington’s continuing hard line toward Cuba as well as the serious challenges this posture is facing today. Increasing pressure from competing powerful lobbies to end the embargo, a growing uneasiness in Congress with the policy’s failure, a severe split within the Republican party over the issue, and a declining radicalism among younger Cuban Americans and more recent Cuban immigrants, all tend to signal a change in Washington’s Cuban policy in the near future, and with it a redefinition of Cuban American influence.

Diabetes Self Management: Are Cuban Americans Receiving Quality Health Care?

Objectives We investigated the relationship among factors predicting inadequate glucose control among 182 Cuban-American adults (Females=110, Males=72) with type 2 diabetes mellitus (CAA). Study Design Cross-sectional study of CAA from a randomized mailing list in two counties of South Florida. Methods Fasted blood parameters and anthropometric measures were collected during the study. BMI was calculated (kg/m2). Characteristics and diabetes care of CAA were self-reported Participants were screened by trained interviewers for heritage and diabetes status (inclusion criteria: self-reported having type 2 diabetes; age ≥ 35 years, male and female; not pregnant or lactating; no thyroid disorders; no major psychiatric disorders). Participants signed informed consent form. Statistical analyses used SPSS and included descriptive statistic, multiple logistic and ordinal logistic regression models, where all CI 95%. Results Eighty-eight percent of CAA had BMI of ≥ 25 kg/ m2. Only 54% reported having a diet prescribed/told to schedule meals. We found CAA told to schedule meals were 3.62 more likely to plan meals (1.81, 7.26), p&lt;0.001) and given a prescribed diet, controlling for age, corresponded with following a meal plan OR 4.43 (2.52, 7.79, p&lt;0.001). The overall relationship for HbA1c &lt; 8.5 to following a meal plan was OR 9.34 (2.84, 30.7. p&lt;0.001). Conclusions The advantage of having a medical professional prescribe a diet seems to be an important environmental support factor in this sample's diabetes care, since obesity rates are well above the national average. Nearly half CAA are not given dietary guidance, yet our results indicate CAA may improve glycemic control by receiving dietary instructions.

Finally, Diplomacy with Cuba not Vitiated by Hubris?

Cuba has merited five decades of American punishment because its domestic policies were disobedient to Washington. This article examines whether President Barak Obama will continue to demand that one sovereign state demand submission from another. Assuming his honesty and good intentions, Obama will encounter a problem in the mind-set of the elite Washington policy circle, which has thought little about Cuba. In 1991, most of them rejoiced when Cuba's economy virtually collapsed following the demise of the Soviet Union. But official American attitudes, shaped by Cold War views and the strength of Cuban–American opponents of the Castro government, have not only been passed by, but also have shown to be hollow. Cuba continues to resist and survive—but has been wounded in the process. Looking at the hubris of American policy toward Cuba and the odyssey of post-Cold War Cuban–American relations allows for understanding why President Obama announced at the Trinidad meetings of hemispheric nations in April 2009, the end of one of the United States' most stupid, long-enduring and unfair policies.

Imaging the Chinese in Cuban Literature and Culture (review)

Reviewed by: Imaging the Chinese in Cuban Literature and Culture Benjamín N. Narváez Ignacio López-Calvo . 2008. Imaging the Chinese in Cuban Literature and Culture. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. 227 pp. ISBN: 978-0-8130-3240-5. What does it mean to be Cuban? What role have different ethnic groups played in creating Cuban national identity? How do members of one ethnic group represent themselves to the rest of society and how, in turn, does the rest of society imagine members of that ethnic group? These are some of the main questions that Ignacio López-Calvo explores in his illuminating book Imaging the Chinese in Cuban Literature and Culture. By focusing specifically on the Chinese diaspora in Cuba and the various cultural representations of this group in Cuban society, López-Calvo sheds light on this group's collective experience and the important role the Chinese have played in Cuban history, culture, and society. Moreover, López-Calvo's work suggests that Cuba deserves a place at the center of Chinese diasporic studies. López-Calvo analyzes Cuban, Cuban American, and Sino-Cuban depictions of Sino-Cubans and "Chineseness" in Cuban literature (fiction, poetry, and testimonials) and art and makes it clear that scholars need to go beyond the traditional African-European binary vision of Cuban history and national identity and recognize the contributions of the Chinese. Although not really a part of official discourse, the island's cultural productions have long considered and recognized the importance of the Chinese presence in Cuban history and society. López-Calvo argues that Cubans have had a contradictory relationship with the Chinese based on affinity and mistrust since the very first boatload of Chinese coolies arrived in 1847 (approximately 125,000 entered the island between 1847 and 1874). Beginning with coolies and lasting into the Cuban Revolution, López-Calvo demonstrates how Cubans became fascinated with the Chinese and imagined China and the Chinese as a source of hope and a danger at the same time. Over time, representations of the Chinese have progressed from demonization, to Orientalist depictions, and finally to more realistic portrayals of the Chinese and their experiences. López-Calvo turns to the concept of Orientalism to make sense of the ambiguous reactions towards the Chinese in Cuba. Many cultural productions depict mainland and Cuban Chinese in Western stereotypical fashion: Chinese rulers live lavishly while the masses starve in virtual [End Page 204] slavery, the Chinese are cruel and masters of torture, the Chinese are passive and their culture static, the Chinese are secretive and unable to assimilate, the Chinese are refined, China is exotic, and Chinese women and china mulatas are fetishized. Some of these characteristics obviously contradict each other, but this makes sense when one considers the simultaneous Western captivation with and aversion to the East. López-Calvo notes that some more recent works, such as Zoé Valdés' La eternidad del instante, are much kinder in their portrayal of the Chinese but still suffer from what he terms "benevolent Orientalism," particularly due to their focus on Chinese exoticism. He also suggests that many of these portrayals of China and the Chinese, typically within an Orientalist framework, are more a reflection on Cuban realities than musings on China and the Chinese diaspora. In Imaging the Chinese, López-Calvo contends that despite the continuous ambivalence toward the Chinese, the Chinese community in Cuba has resisted marginalization, has evolved over time, and has increasingly gained acceptance. Some important nineteenth and twentieth-century Cuban intellectuals, including José Martí, have all but ignored the Chinese presence and contribution to the Cuban nation, while others have acknowledged the Chinese presence but have misrepresented Sino-Cubans as silent separatists who created their own secret societies and isolated themselves from the rest of Cuban society. Both the lack of acknowledgement and misrepresentation imply that Sino-Cubans are not really Cuban. However, a competing discourse, which began to emerge in the late nineteenth century and has continued to develop to this day, has sought to correct these responses to the Chinese. Based largely on their participation in the wars of independence as Chinese mambises, the Chinese in...

Exiles and the Marketing of U.S. Policy toward Cuba and Iraq

This paper analyses the role of Cuban Americans and Iraqi Americans as allies of like-minded public officials in the marketing of contested foreign policies to the United States public. Each of these ethnic exile communities played a traditional lobbying role as would be expected of interest groups, but the argument here is that the interactive relationship between the ethnic interest groups and government officials in advocating policy is the more interesting development in these cases. While there are differences in the two cases, the similarities between marketing an embargo and an invasion suggest that foreign-policy analysts may want to pay closer attention to the interactive relationship between exile communities and government officials in policy advocacy. I suggest in conclusion that we need to be wary of according defectors and exiles privileged positions in future foreign-policy debates.

Influence of C677T methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene polymorphism on plasma homocysteine levels among Cuban Americans with and without type 2 diabetes

The study examined the influence of C677T MTHFR gene polymorphism on plasma homocysteine (Hcy) levels among Cuban Americans with (N=136) and without (N=136) type 2 diabetes (T2D). Subjects were randomly recruited from Miami‐Dade and Broward Counties, FL. Hcy was determined in fasting blood samples. MTHFR genotypes of the polymorphism C677T were analyzed from genomic DNA samples using a restriction enzyme (Hinf I). Statistical analyses used SPSS and included descriptive statistics and ANCOVA test controlling for age, gender, BMI, smoking, family history of CHD, intake of folate, vitamins B6 and B12. Prior to all statistical analyses plasma Hcy was log‐transformed to achieve normality. After adjusting for the control variables ANCOVA test indicated that non‐diabetics had higher log Hcy levels (2.20±.02) than T2D subjects (2.04±.03), (p=.001). Subjects with the TT genotype had higher log Hcy levels (2.19±.02) than those with CC genotype (2.11±.05), (p=.002). The interaction between diabetes status and MTHFR genotypes with log Hcy was not statistically significant. High Hcy levels among Cuban Americans with TT genotype were independent of their diabetes status. Our study agrees with previous reports with other ethnic groups indicating that high Hcy levels are found in persons with TT genotype.

Pulse pressure: a surrogate measure of arterial stiffness in a diabetic Cuban American (CA) population

The study examined the difference in pulse pressure (PP) among CA with (N=183) and without (N=184) type 2 diabetes (T2D). Subjects were randomly recruited from Miami‐Dade and Broward Counties, FL. An average of two blood pressure readings was used for the calculation of PP, as the difference between the systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP); (SBP ‐ DBP). Analyses used SPSS and included descriptive statistics, ANCOVA, correlations, multiple linear and logistic regressions. Results revealed T2D subjects had higher PP (52.35) than non diabetics (49.35), p=.033. This association was still significant; F (1,331) = 4.77, p= .030; after controlling for all co‐variates: age, waist circumference, BMI, saturated fatty acid, calcium, HDL cholesterol, C‐ reactive protein, potassium, sodium, diabetes status, gender, smoking and hypertension medications. A predictive model was developed which controlled for covariates. The association was still significant (p=.025); with diabetes status, age and hypertension medication being the strongest predictors for PP. The model explained 18.8% variability in PP between diabetics and non diabetics (R square = 0.188). Diabetics had twice the odds for higher PP than non diabetics; (OR=2.040, p=.012). We conclude that CA with T2D have a higher PP than non‐diabetics and this may explain the higher risk of heart disease among diabetics.

Diet, Health factors Cuban Americans w/wo T2DM

ObjectiveTo assess dietary, anthropometric and clinical predictors of cardiovascular disease (CVD) by gender and diabetes status in Cuban Americans.MethodsCross‐sectional, case control, study of aged‐matched, Cuban American adults with and without diabetes, randomly selected by a mailing list from three counties in South Florida resulted in an informed consent study for whom N= 367 190 diabetics (72 males, 118 females) and 177 non‐diabetics (59 males and 118 females) furnished complete data.ResultsANOVA confirmed group differences by age, gender and diabetic status in diet and clinical predictors of CVD. Regression confirmed % carbohydrate intake was associated with fasting glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) for non‐diabetic females, exclusively.ConclusionsDifferences in diet by diabetes status and gender were associated with health outcomes. Diabetes management of glucose control was associated with age.

Glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL) on plasma high‐density‐lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL‐C) in Cuban Americans with and without type 2 diabetes (T2D).

The relationship between GL and GI and plasma HDL‐C levels in 324 Cuban‐Americans with and without T2D were studied. Subjects were randomly recruited in Miami‐Dade and Broward Counties, FL. GL and GI values were calculated using a FFQ, physical activity was assessed using MAQ and HDL‐C levels were analyzed in fasting plasma. Analysis included descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlations and linear regressions, controlling for age, gender, T2D status, BMI, waist circumference (WC), physical activity, smoking, cholesterol medication(s), protein (g) and total fat (g).There was a significant inverse correlation between both GL and GI with HDL‐C levels among subjects with T2D (r=‐.251, r= ‐.253, p&lt;.001, respectively). After adjusting for all control variables, GL was a significant predictor of HDL‐C among Cuban Americans (B=‐.045, p=.003). There was a significant interaction between diabetes status and GI with HDL‐C (B=‐.998, p=.004). The linear regression showed that GI was a significant predictor of HDL‐C only among subjects with T2D (B= ‐.649, p=.004). Dietary GL is inversely correlated with HDL‐C independently of T2D status. GI is inversely correlated with HDL‐C levels only among T2D subjects which may explain their increased risk for CVD.

Increased adiponectin among Cuban American type 2 diabetics with metabolic syndrome

Metabolic syndrome (MetS), defined by clustering of multiple CVD risk factors, is associated with development of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and CVD. Circulating adiponectin decreases with obesity, MetS, T2D and CVD. Subjects were randomly recruited from Miami‐Dade and Broward Counties, FL. MetS was determined using the ATP III criteria. Fasted whole blood for adiponectin was collected into tubes containing K3EDTA. Adiponectin was measured using ELISA (Linco Research Inc). Descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation, and logistic regression model were used for data analysis. The model included: main effect, main effects + interaction, and main effects, interaction, controlling for age and gender. Individuals were: 30% with MetS, 59% female, 69% non‐diabetic, 61.06±11 years old, had BMI 30.24±5.38, mean log adiponectin of 3.02±1.29. There was an inverse correlation (r=‐0.453, P&lt;.01) between log adiponectin and diabetes status. Logistic regression analyses of the presence or absence of MetS among diabetics and non‐diabetics were significant for diabetes status (P&lt;.001), interaction for log adiponectin by diabetes status (P&lt;.002) and BMI (P&lt;.001), controlled for age and gender. In conclusion adiponectin was higher in T2D and MetS subjects.

Can the alternate healthy eating index (AHEI) score predict health outcomes for Cuban Americans with and without type 2 diabetes?

Adherence to a dietary pattern represented by the AHEI has been inversely correlated with CVD incidence in healthy populations. The population with type 2 diabetes (T2D) is at particularly high risk for CVD. Determining a dietary pattern successful in decreasing CVD risk in the diabetic population will enable more specific dietary recommendations. The relationship between AHEI score and 10‐year coronary heart disease (CHD) risk in Cuban Americans (n=367) with and without T2D. Subjects were randomly recruited from a mailing list in Miami‐Dade and Broward Counties, FL. AHEI score was calculated from self‐reported FFQ; CHD risk was determined using ATPIII's 10‐year Risk Calculator. AHEI score was evaluated against the presence of CHD risk. Analyses included descriptive statistics, correlations, and linear regressions controlling for BMI, WC and physical activity. Mean AHEI scores for diabetics and non‐diabetics were 33.00±10.77 and 33.95±11.26 respectively. There was a significant inverse correlation (r=‐.14, p=.008) between AHEI and CVD risk. However, linear regression models found AHEI to be a significant predictor of 10‐year CVD risk only among diabetics (p=.001). Diabetic with higher AHEI scores had lower scores for 10‐year risk of CVD, therefore dietary guidelines for individuals with T2D that include patterns representing a high AHEI score are warranted.

Differences in Mortality Among Mexican-American, Puerto Rican, and Cuban-American Dialysis Patients in the United States

The Hispanic ethnic group is heterogeneous, with distinct genetic, cultural, and socioeconomic characteristics, but most prior studies of patients with end-stage renal disease focus on the overall Hispanic ethnic group without further granularity. We examined survival differences among Mexican-American, Puerto Rican, and Cuban-American dialysis patients in the United States. Prospective observational study. Data from individuals randomly selected for the End-Stage Renal Disease Clinical Performance Measures Project (2001 to 2005) were examined. Mexican-American (n = 2,742), Puerto Rican (n = 838), Cuban-American (n = 145), and Hispanic-other dialysis patients (n = 942) were compared with each other and with non-Hispanic (n = 33,076) dialysis patients in the United States. Patient characteristics of interest included ethnicity/race, comorbidities, and specific available laboratory values. The major outcome of interest was mortality. In the fully adjusted multivariable model, 2-year mortality risk was significantly lower for the Mexican-American and Hispanic-other groups compared with non-Hispanics (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.79; 95% confidence interval, 0.73 to 0.85; adjusted hazard ratio, 0.81; 95% confidence interval, 0.71 to 0.92, respectively). Differences in 2-year mortality rates within the Hispanic ethnic groups were statistically significant (P = 0.004) and ranged from 21% lower mortality in Mexican Americans to 3% higher mortality in Puerto Ricans compared with non-Hispanics. Include those inherent to an observational study, potential ethnic group misclassification, and small sample sizes for some Hispanic subgroups. Mexican-American and Hispanic-other dialysis patients have a survival advantage compared with non-Hispanics. Furthermore, Mexican Americans, Cuban Americans, and Hispanic others had a survival advantage compared with their Puerto Rican counterparts. Future research should continue to examine subgroups within Hispanic ethnicity to understand underlying reasons for observed differences that may be masked by examining the Hispanic ethnic group as only a single entity.