The South Texas Health Status Review

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvii

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2. Introduction

   • Amelie G. Ramirez, Ian M. Thompson, Leonel Vela

   Pages 1-5Open Access

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3. South Texas Population Characteristics

   • Amelie G. Ramirez, Ian M. Thompson, Leonel Vela

   Pages 7-9Open Access

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4. Access to Health Care in South Texas

   • Amelie G. Ramirez, Ian M. Thompson, Leonel Vela

   Pages 11-15Open Access

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5. Communicable Diseases

   • Amelie G. Ramirez, Ian M. Thompson, Leonel Vela

   Pages 17-31Open Access

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6. Cancer Incidence and Mortality

   • Amelie G. Ramirez, Ian M. Thompson, Leonel Vela

   Pages 33-56Open Access

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7. Maternal and Child Health

   • Amelie G. Ramirez, Ian M. Thompson, Leonel Vela

   Pages 57-71Open Access

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8. Chronic Diseases

   • Amelie G. Ramirez, Ian M. Thompson, Leonel Vela

   Pages 73-83Open Access

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9. Behavioral Risk Factors in Adults

   • Amelie G. Ramirez, Ian M. Thompson, Leonel Vela

   Pages 85-100Open Access

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10. Environmental Health Issues

    • Amelie G. Ramirez, Ian M. Thompson, Leonel Vela

    Pages 101-107Open Access

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11. Injury

    • Amelie G. Ramirez, Ian M. Thompson, Leonel Vela

    Pages 109-117Open Access

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12. Back Matter

    Pages 119-138

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This book is a roadmap of the exact health disparities that burden the health of South Texas residents, especially Hispanics, compared to the rest of Texas and nation. This type of knowledge has the potential to fuel and motivate researchers and public health leaders to create and shape interventions to reverse those health disparities. Most notably, focus on obesity and diabetes prevention efforts and modifiable risk factors—such as nutrition, reproductive factors and access to health care—has significant potential to reduce the burden of disease in South Texas communities.South Texas, a 38-county region that spans 45,000 square miles along the Texas-Mexico border northward to the area around metropolitan Bexar County (home to San Antonio), is home to 18% of the state’s population. Yet South Texas residents, who are 68% Hispanic, struggle with lower educational levels, less income and less access to health care—and, as a result, suffer from a wide variety of health disparities. To study the health status and identify the exact health disparities that exist in the region, researchers from The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio teamed with researchers from the Texas Department of State Health Services to develop the South Texas Health Status Review.The Review team analyzed a variety of the latest county, state and national data to compare South Texas’ incidence, prevalence and mortality rates for more than 35 health indicators—from cancers to chronic diseases like diabetes to communicable diseases like HIV/AIDS to maternal health and even environmental health—to the rest of Texas and the nation by age, sex, race/ethnicity and rural/urban location.​ 

• health disparities and HIV/AIDS
• health disparities and TB
• health disparities and asthma
• health disparities and cancer
• health disparities and diabetes
• health disparities and maternal and child health

• Institute for Health Promotion Research, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, USA

  Amelie G. Ramirez

• Department of Urology, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio Cancer Therapy and Research Center, San Antonio, USA

  Ian M. Thompson

• Regional Academic Health Center, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, Harlingen, USA

  Leonel Vela

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