RESUMO
This study contrasts the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome mortality experience of residents of Puerto Rico with that of New York City residents identified as either Puerto Rico-born and non-Puerto Rico-born Hispanics. Portions of the mortality data examined in this investigation update and extend the data previously published describing selected groups in New York City through the end of 1987 but which did not consider residents of Puerto Rico. The nine-year cumulative, age-adjusted acquired immunodeficiency syndrome mortality rate for males was found to be 5 x higher among Puerto Rico-born New York City residents compared with residents of Puerto Rico (702/100,000 v 141/100,000) and 1 1/2 x greater than that of other male Hispanic New York City residents (447/100,000). In New York City, Puerto Rico-born females had higher age-adjusted mortality rates (121/100,000) than female residents of Puerto Rico (25/100,000) and other female Hispanic residents of New York City (70/100,000). Within five of the six age categories considered, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome mortality rates for adult males and females are higher for Puerto-Rico-born, New York City residents. Limitations of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome incidence data, as they pertain to persons of Puerto Rican ancestry, are discussed.
Assuntos
Síndrome da Imunodeficiência Adquirida/mortalidade , Hispânico ou Latino , Síndrome da Imunodeficiência Adquirida/etnologia , Adolescente , Adulto , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Cidade de Nova Iorque/epidemiologia , Porto Rico/epidemiologia , Porto Rico/etnologia , Estudos RetrospectivosRESUMO
Analysis of AIDS mortality data for New York City for 1981-1987 reveals that Puerto Ricans represent the racial/ethnic group most severely affected by this city's AIDS epidemic. Cumulative age-adjusted AIDS mortality rates among Puerto Rico-born males are significantly higher (362 per 100,000) than among blacks (267), whites (182), or other Hispanic (217) males, and cumulative age-specific mortality rates for males are highest for the Puerto Rico-born in every adult age group. AIDS proportional mortality analysis indicates that in 1987 the proportion of all deaths due to AIDS was 10% among those Puerto Rican-born, 12% among other Hispanics (which includes at least 50% United States-born Puerto Ricans), 6% among blacks, and 2% among whites.
Assuntos
Síndrome da Imunodeficiência Adquirida/mortalidade , Hispânico ou Latino , Síndrome da Imunodeficiência Adquirida/etnologia , Adolescente , Adulto , Feminino , Humanos , Incidência , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Cidade de Nova Iorque/epidemiologia , Porto Rico/etnologia , Fatores SexuaisRESUMO
Pennwalt Inc., a multinational chemical and pharmaceutical firm based in the United States, operates a chloralkali plant in Managua, Nicaragua. This plant utilizes elemental mercury in the production of chlorine and caustic soda for markets throughout Central America. The plant was recently found to be contaminating the waters of Lake Managua (on which the plant is located) with 2 to 4 tons of inorganic mercury effluent per year-over 40 tons in the 13-year history of the plant. Examination of the 152 workers employed in the plant showed that 56(37 percent) were suffering symptoms and signs of mercury poisoning, including tremors (in 45), memory and attention deficits (in 45) and paresthesias (in 52). Levels of airborne mercury vapor in the plant were found to range as high as 600 microgram/m3. (The airborne standard set by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is 100 microgram/m3.) Workers in the plant had never been alerted to the hazards of mercury. The plant was found to be in deteriorated condition, with no recent investments in maintenance or modern safety equipment. It is reported that the parent corporation, Pennwalt, has been withdrawing capital from the operation (and from Nicaragua) since the fall of the Somoza regime.