Health Assessment
APAs have unique health issues, particularly when you look at disaggregated data of specific ethnic groups. Some highlights of a recent study completed by the Asian American Resource Center Nonprofit:
- Obesity: being foreign-born is associated with a greater resiliency to obesity and Filipino American adults are 70% more likely to be obese as compared to the overall Asian American population.
- Diabetes: South Asian immigrants are 7 times more likely to have type 2 diabetes than the general population
- Cancer: leading cause of death among Asian Americans
- Hepatitis B: 1 in 12 Asian Americans are living with chronic hepatitis B
- Heart disease: rate of heart disease among Indian Americans is 4 times that of whites
- Tuberculosis: increasing among Asian Pacific Americans while decreasing for rest of population
- Behavioral health: older Asian American women have the highest suicide rate among all women 65 and older
APAs are less likely than non-Hispanic whites to receive health insurance through employers. They tend to avoid going to the doctor until absolutely necessary. This may be due to lack of access to care as well as lack of culturally and linguistically specific services. Download study here.