The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) will manage all local participants of the largest prospective health study of Latinos in the United States, News-Medical.net reports. UIC’s Institute for Minority Health Research was awarded a $15.3 million contract from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to analyze the local baseline health data of a nationwide study. The Hispanic Community Health Study collected data from more than 16,400 Latino patients across the country during the first phase of the study between 2008 and 2012. Now, researchers at all study locations will analyze data in a second phase on chronic diseases, cardiovascular risk factors and genetic information, among many other health factors. Researchers also will investigate the truth and causes of the so-called “Hispanic paradox”—the idea that despite overall low socioeconomic status and high rates of obesity and diabetes, U.S. Latinos tend to live longer than whites. In addition to Chicago, research will be conducted during the next six years at field centers in San Diego, Miami and the Bronx, New York.

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