Absence of the “hispanic paradox” for assault mortality

Background: Despite economic vulnerability, U.S. Hispanics generally have lower mortality than non-Hispanics. Purpose: Describe U.S. Hispanic assault mortality. Methods: Mortality rates (and 95% Confidence Intervals) were obtained from the Compressed Mortality Files for 1999-2009 from the public CDC WONDER website. Results: Of 35,329 Hispanic assault deaths, 24,430 (69%) were due to firearms. Overall, Hispanic mortality rates for firearm and for non-firearm assault each exceeded that for non-Hispanics by 30%. However, among American Indian/Alaska Natives, Asian/Pacific Islanders, Blacks, and Whites, only Hispanic Whites were at a disadvantage relative to non-Hispanics, and this was only apparent for males. Risk of both Hispanic firearm (14.0 (95% Confidence Interval 13.7,14.2)) and non-firearm (3.3 (3.1,3.4)) assault mortality was highest at ages 15-24 years, with Hispanic White males in this age group being particularly affected. Within this Hispanic age-gender group, firearm assault mortality was highest in large central metropolitan areas (34.0 (33.2, 34.8) versus 8 (6.3, 9.9) in non-core, non-metro areas). In contrast, this group showed no significant differences across six classes of urbanization for non-firearm assault mortality. Among Hispanic White males ages 15-24 years, firearm assault was highest in the West (32.5 (31.7, 33.4)) and Midwest (28.3 (26.5, 29.9)), while for non-firearm assault, the highest rate occurred in the Northeast (7.7(6.9, 8.4)). Conclusions: The “Hispanic paradox” does not apply to assault, but the overall Hispanic disadvantage is driven by relatively higher rates among Hispanic White males, and particularly by firearm assault among urban males ages 15-24 years residing in the West and Midwest.