Comparative microhematocrit values of Spanish Americans and whites attending Los Angeles County youth clinics

Determinations were made of the microhematocrit levels of 50 male and 50 female Spanish Americans and 50 male and 50 female white persons selected at random at two Los Angeles County youth clinics. One clinic served primarily a Spanish American population and the other, primarily a white population. Among both men and women the mean level for whites was significantly less than that for the Spanish Americans. If microhematocrit levels below 36 percent are considered below normal for women and those below 42 percent below normal for men, the prevalence of below-normal microhematocrit levels among whites was 18 percent of the women and 28 percent of the men in contrast to a prevalence of 10 percent of the women and 14 percent of the men among the Spanish Americans. The findings are contrary to those which may have been anticipated on the basis of the "Ten State Nutrition Survey, 1968-1970."