Immigrants arrive in the U.S. with better than average health, which declines over time. Clinical preventive services can prevent or delay some of that decline, but little research in this area focuses specifically on Mexican immigrants who are the largest contemporary immigrant group. This article finds that recent Mexican immigrants were the least likely to receive preventive care services, even after adjusting for sociodemographic differences in the population. Long-stay Mexican immigrants were more similar to U.S.-born Mexican Americans in preventive service use rates, who in turn had lower rates than U.S.-born non-Latino whites. Monolingual Spanish speaking Mexican immigrants were the least likely to have obtained preventive services. Having no usual source of care is the strongest predictor of the underuse. The persistent gap in preventive services across all subgroups of adults of Mexican origin suggests structural barriers to their preventive care. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007.

Preventive services Health services accessibility Health promotion Hispanic Americans Emigration and immigration

immigrant prevention study demography Preventive Health Services human middle aged health service controlled study priority journal health status Time Factors Aged language Mexico United States Humans Hispanic Adolescent male Emigrants and Immigrants female prediction Socioeconomic Factors socioeconomics Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice Article adult health care access Sex Factors Age Factors Patient Acceptance of Health Care Health Services Accessibility elderly care Mexican Americans