A comparison of the health of older Hispanics in the United States and Mexico - Methodological challenges

Objectives: This study compares various dimensions of physical and emotional health between older Mexican-origin individuals in the United States and in Mexico. Method: The samples are drawn from the Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS) and the Hispanic Established Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly (H-EPESE) and include 3,875 Mexican residents with no history of residence in the United States and 2,734 Mexican-origin individuals 65 and older who live in the southwestern United States. Results: Both immigrant and native-born Mexican-origin elders in the United States report more chronic conditions than elderly Mexicans, but they report fewer symptoms of psychological distress. Longer residence in the United States is associated with higher body mass index scores. Discussion: The discussion addresses the possibility that access to care influences reports of diagnosed conditions and touches on issues of comparability in cross-cultural research and the difficulty in clearly distinguishing cultural and system-level factors in the production and measurement of health.