Heart Disease and Asians and Pacific Islanders

Overall, Asian American adults are less likely than white adults to have heart disease and they are less likely to die from heart disease. In general, Asian American adults have lower rates of being overweight or obese, lower rates of hypertension, and they are less likely to be current cigarette smokers.

Asian Americans are 50% less likely to die from heart disease
Asian Americans are 50% less likely to smoke cigarettes as are Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders
Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders are 20% more likely to be obese as compared to Non-Hispanic Whites
Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders are 40% more likely to be diagnosed with heart disease as Non-Hispanic Whites

At a glance – Diagnosed Cases of Heart Disease:

**Age-adjusted percentages of heart disease among persons 18 years of age and over, 2006**
Asians	Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders	Non-Hispanic White	Asian/Non-Hispanic White Ratio	Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
6.8	16.6	11.7	0.6	1.4

Source: CDC 2007. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: 2006. Table 2.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_235.pdf

At a glance – Death Rate:

**Age-Adjusted Heart Disease Death Rates per 100,000 (2005)**
	Asians/Pacific Islanders	Non-Hispanic White	Asians/Pacific Islanders /Non- Hispanic White Ratio
Men	141.1	262.2	0.5
Women	91.9	170.3	0.5

Source: CDC 2007. Health United States, 2007. Table 36.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus07.pdf

At a Glance – Risk Factors:

Overweight

NHANES data is not available.

National Health Interview Survey, NHIS

**Age-adjusted percentage of persons 18 years of age and over who are overweight but not obese, 2006. (Persons are considered overweight if they have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 25 or greater.)**
Asians	Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders	Non-Hispanic White	Asian/Non-Hispanic White Ratio	Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
27.6	37.6	34.5	0.8	1.1

Source: CDC 2007. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: 2006. Table 31.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_235.pdf

Obesity

NHANES data is not available.

**Age-adjusted percentage of persons 18 years of age and over who are obese, 2065. (Persons are considered obese if they have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or greater.)**
Asians	Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders	Non-Hispanic White	Asian/Non-Hispanic White Ratio	Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
8.3	30.8	24.7	0.3	1.2

Source: CDC 2007. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: 2006. Table 31.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_235.pdf

Hypertension
NHANES data is not available.

**Age-adjusted percentage of persons 18 years of age and over who have high blood pressure, 2006.**
Asians	Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders	Non-Hispanic White	Asian/Non-Hispanic White Ratio	Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
18.6	19.9	22.4	0.8	0.9

Source: CDC 2007. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: 2006. Table 2.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_235.pdf

Percent of adults age 18 and over with hypertension whose blood pressure is under control, 1999-2000
Not available at this time.

High Cholesterol
Age-adjusted percentage of persons 20 years of age and over who have high cholesterol, 1999-2002.
Not available at this time.

**Age-adjusted percentage of adults (men and women) with high cholesterol, 2001-2002 (BRFSS, REACH 2010 Surveys)**
Population	% diagnosed with high cholesterol	Ratio vs. General Population
Asians	28.5	1.0
U.S. General Public	29.7	--
Cambodians (Lowell, MA)	24.5	0.8
Vietnamese (LA, Orange, and Santa Clara Counties, CA)	24.8	0.8

Source: CDC, 2004. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report: 53(33): 760-765, Table 1.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/wk/mm5333.pdf

**Age-adjusted percentage of adults (men and women) who had their blood cholesterol checked, 2001-2002 (BRFSS, REACH 2010 Surveys)**
Population	% checked blood cholesterol	Ratio vs. General Population
Asians	70.1	0.9
U.S. General Public	77.4	--
Cambodians (Lowell, MA)	47.7	0.6
Vietnamese (LA, Orange, and Santa Clara Counties, CA)	68.3	0.9

Source: CDC, 2004. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report: 53(33): 760-765, Table 1.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/wk/mm5333.pdf

Cigarette Smoking

**Age-adjusted percentage of persons 18 years of age and over who are current cigarette smokers, 2006.**
Asian	Non-Hispanic White	Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander	Asian/White Ratio	Asian/Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
10.7	22.6	22.5	0.5	1.0

Source: CDC 2007. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: 2006. Table 25.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_235.pdf

Percentage of current smokers age 18 and over with a checkup who reported receiving advice to quit smoking, 2001
Not available at this time.

**Percentage of heart attack patients given smoking cessation counseling while hospitalized, 2005**
Asians/Pacific Islanders	White	Asians/Pacific Islanders /White Ratio
85.9	92.8	0.9

Source: 2007 National Healthcare Disparities Report. Table 48.
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhdr07/index.html

At a Glance – Treatment:

Aspirin Therapy

**Percent of heart attack patients administered aspirin within 24 hours of admission, 2005**
Asians/Pacific Islanders	White	Asians/Pacific Islanders /White Ratio
95.4	95.3	1.0

Source: 2007 National Healthcare Disparities Report. Table 43.
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhdr07/index.html

**Percent of heart attack patients with aspirin prescribed at discharge, 2005**
Asians/Pacific Islanders	White	Asians/Pacific Islanders /White Ratio
94.7	95.8	1.0

Source: 2007 National Healthcare Disparities Report. Table 44.
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhdr07/index.html

Beta Blockers

**Percent of heart attack patients administered beta blocker within 24 hours of admission, 2005**
Asians/Pacific Islanders	White	Asians/Pacific Islanders /White Ratio
91.2	91.8	1.0

Source: 2007 National Healthcare Disparities Report. Table 45.
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhdr07/index.html

**Percent of heart attack patients with beta blocker prescribed at discharge, 2005**
Asians/Pacific Islanders	White	Asians/Pacific Islanders /White Ratio
93.4	94.8	1.0

Source: 2007 National Healthcare Disparities Report. Table 46.
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhdr07/index.html

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Content Last Modified: 6/27/2008 3:09:00 PM