• Suicide was the 8th leading cause of death for Asian Americans, and was the 9th leading cause of death for White Americans, in 2005.¹
• Older Asian American women have the highest suicide rate of all women over age 65 in the United States.² In 2005, the suicide rate for that group was 1.6 times greater than it was in the White population.
• Southeast Asian refugees are at risk for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) associated with trauma experienced before and after immigration to the U.S. One study found that 70% of Southeast Asian refugees receiving mental health care were diagnosed with PTSD.¹
• For Asian Americans, the rate of serious psychological distress increases with lower levels of income, as it does in most other ethnic populations.
• The overall suicide rate for Asian Americans in half that of the White population.

MENTAL HEALTH STATUS:

Serious psychological distress among adults 18 years of age and over, percent, 2005-2006

Asian American	Non-Hispanic White	Asian American/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
2.3	2.8	0.8

Source: CDC, 2007. Health United States, 2007. Table 61.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus07.pdf[PDF, 475KB]

Serious psychological distress among adults 18 years of age and over, percent of poverty level, 2004-2006

	Asian American	Non-Hispanic White	Asian American/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Below 100%	4.9	10.2	0.5
100%-less than 200%	3.6	5.6	0.6
200% or more	1.4	1.7	0.8

Source: CDC. Health Data for All Ages.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/health_data_for_all_ages.htm. [Accessed 07/25/2008].

Percent of population with feelings of sadness, hopelessness, worthlessness, or that everything is an effort, all of the time, among persons 18 years of age and over, 2006

	Asian American	Non-Hispanic White	Asian American/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Sadness	2.5	2.8	0.9
Hopelessness	1.5	1.9	0.8
Worthlessness	1.9	1.7	1.1
Everything is an effort	4.1	4.8	0.9

Source:  CDC 2007. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: 2006. Table 14.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_235.pdf[PDF, 3.7MB]

Percent of population with feelings of nervousness or restlessness, among persons 18 years of age and over, 2006

	Asian American	Non-Hispanic White	Asian American/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Nervousness, all or most of time	2.8	4.0	0.7
Nervousness, some of time	9.0	11.6	0.8
Restlessness, all or most of time	3.4	6.0	0.6
Restlessness, some of time	8.2	12.0	0.7
Restlessness, some of time, NHOPI only*	15.1	12.0	1.3

Source:  CDC 2007. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: 2006. Table 16.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_235.pdf[PDF, 3.7MB]

Age-adjusted percent distributions of adults 18 years of age and over, with serious psychological distress, most or all of the time, 2004–2006

Population	Serious distress	Ratio / All Asian Population	Ratio / Whites
All Whites	2.9	-	-
All Asians	1.9	-	1.7
Chinese	1.6	0.8	0.6
Filipino	2.5	1.3	0.9
Asian Indian	1.4	0.7	0.5
Japanese	1.1	0.6	0.4
Vietnamese	2.5	1.3	0.9
Korean	1.3	0.7	0.4
Other Asian & NHOPI*	2.6	1.4	0.9

Source: CDC, 2008. Health Characteristics of the Asian Adult Population: United States, 2004-2006. Table 7.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad/ad394.pdf[PDF, 476KB]

DEATH RATES:

Age-adjusted death rates for suicide, by race, 2005

Asian American	White	Asian American/ White Ratio
5.2	12.0	0.5

Source: CDC, 2007. Health United States, 2007. Table 29.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus07.pdf[PDF, 475KB]

Death rates for suicide, age, race and Hispanic origin, 2005: Men

	Asian American Men/Alaska Native Men	Non-Hispanic White Men	Asian American Men/ Non-Hispanic White Men Ratio
15-24 years	7.2	18.4	0.4
25-44 years	9.5	26.6	0.4
45-64 years	8.9	28.2	0.3
65 years and over	11.0	33.2	0.3
All ages	7.3	21.2	0.3

Source: CDC, 2007. Health United States, 2007. Table 46.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus07.pdf[PDF, 475KB]

Death rates for suicide, age, race and Hispanic origin, 2005: Women

	Asian American Women	Non-Hispanic White Women	Asian American Women/ Non-Hispanic White Women Ratio
15-24 years	3.7	3.9	0.9
25-44 years	3.4	7.4	0.5
45-64 years	3.8	8.7	0.4
65 years and over	6.8	4.3	1.6
All ages	3.3	5.3	0.6

Source: CDC, 2007. Health United States, 2007. Table 46.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus07.pdf[PDF, 475KB]

ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE:

Percent of Adults age 18 and over who received mental health treatment or counseling in the past year, 2005

Asian American	White	Asian American/ White Ratio
4.0	14.0	0.3

Source:  2007 National Healthcare Disparities Report. Table 243a.
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhqr07/index.html

Percent of Adults age 18 and over who received prescription medications for mental health treatment or counseling, 2005

Asian American	White	Asian American/ White Ratio
2.9	11.8	0.2

Source:  2007 National Healthcare Disparities Report. Table 245a.
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhqr07/index.html

NOTE: *NHOPI = Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.