Du Bois’ (1899) insight that immigrant status affects the health profile of a population is relevant to understanding contemporary patterns of health. Asians and Latinos have lower overall age adjusted mortality rates than whites. In the 2000 U.S. Census, 67% of Asians and 40% of Latinos were foreign born (Malone et al. 2003). Processes linked to migration make an important contribution to the observed mortality rates for these groups. National data reveal that immigrants of all racial groups have lower rates of adult and infant mortality than their native born counterparts (Hummer et al.1999; Singh and Miller 2004; Singh and Yu 1996). Moreover, across multiple immigrant groups, with increasing exposure to American society, health tends to decline. This pattern is especially surprising for Latinos. Hispanic immigrants, especially those of Mexican background, have high rates of poverty and low levels of access to health insurance in the United States. However, their levels of health are equivalent and sometimes superior to that of the white population. This pattern has been called the Hispanic paradox (Markides and Eschbach 2005).
