Implicit Racial/Ethnic Bias and Latino Health: A Systematic Review

In the United States, the Latino population is projected to reach approximately 28.6% of the total U.S. population by 2060. Despite their growing presence, Latinos encounter health disparities and worse health outcomes in comparison to their non-Hispanic White (NHW) counterparts. Latinos/ Hispanics have a higher prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and late stage cancer diagnosis. Various social determinants of health (SDoH) such as socioeconomic status, education, insurance enrollment, language proficiency, immigration status among other variables intersect to influence Latino health status. However, even when all those factors were held equal, disparities remained. The aforementioned list did not include race/ethnicity, though race/ethnicity is a critical SDoH that influences one's access to care and the quality of care they receive. As such, examining the role of race may be the key to reducing persistent health disparities in access to care, quality of care, and health outcomes.