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
Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders are 30% more likely to be obese as compared to Non-Hispanic Whites
Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders are 30% more likely to be diagnosed with high blood pressure as Non-Hispanic Whites

At a glance – Diagnosed Cases of Heart Disease:

**Age-adjusted percentages of coronary heart disease among persons 18 years of age and over, 2007**
Asians	Non-Hispanic White	Asian/Non-Hispanic White Ratio
4.3	6.2	0.7

Source: CDC 2009. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: 2007. Table 2.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_240.pdf[PDF | 8.43MB]

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 2009. Health United States, 2008. Table 35.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus08.pdf [PDF | 12.2MB]

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, 2007. (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
29.2	31.7	34.5	0.8	0.9

Source: CDC 2009. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: 2007. Table 31.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_240.pdf[PDF | 8.43MB]

Obesity

NHANES data is not available.

**Age-adjusted percentage of persons 18 years of age and over who are obese, 2007. (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
8.9	31.0	24.8	0.4	1.3

Source: CDC 2009. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: 2007. Table 31.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_240.pdf[PDF | 8.43MB]

Hypertension
NHANES data is not available.

**Age-adjusted percentage of persons 18 years of age and over who have high blood pressure, 2007.**
Asians	Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders	Non-Hispanic White	Asian/Non-Hispanic White Ratio	Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
19.5	28.5	22.5	0.9	1.3

Source: CDC 2009. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: 2007. Table 2.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_240.pdf[PDF | 8.43MB]

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, 2007.**
Asian	Non-Hispanic White	Asian/White Ratio
9.2	22.1	0.4

Source: CDC 2009. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: 2007. Table 25.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_240.pdf[PDF | 8.43MB]

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, 2007**
Asians/Pacific Islanders	White	Asians/Pacific Islanders /White Ratio
92.2	96.9	1.0

Source: 2008 National Healthcare Disparities Report. Table 4_2_7.1
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/qrdr08/4_heartdiseases/T4_2_7-1.htm

**Age-Adjusted Percent of persons 18+ who currently smoke, 2004 - 2006**
	Asians/Pacific Islanders	Non-Hispanic White	Asians/Pacific Islanders /Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Male	18.1	25.5	0.7
Female	5.2	20.9	0.2

Source: CDC 2009. Health United States, 2008. Table 65.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus08.pdf [PDF | 12.2MB]

At a Glance – Treatment:

Aspirin Therapy

**Percent of heart attack patients administered aspirin within 24 hours of admission, 2006**
Asians/Pacific Islanders	White	Asians/Pacific Islanders /White Ratio
96.8	96.6	1.0

Source: 2008 National Healthcare Disparities Report. Table 4_2_2.1
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/qrdr08/4_heartdiseases/T4_2_2-1.htm

**Percent of heart attack patients with aspirin prescribed at discharge, 2006**
Asians/Pacific Islanders	White	Asians/Pacific Islanders /White Ratio
95.7	96.8	1.0

Source: 2008 National Healthcare Disparities Report. Table 4_2_3.1
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/qrdr08/4_heartdiseases/T4_2_3-1.htm

Beta Blockers

**Percent of heart attack patients administered beta blocker within 24 hours of admission, 2006**
Asians/Pacific Islanders	White	Asians/Pacific Islanders /White Ratio
94.3	93.4	1.0

Source: 2008 National Healthcare Disparities Report. Table 4_2_4.1.
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/qrdr08/4_heartdiseases/T4_2_4-1.htm

**Percent of heart attack patients with beta blocker prescribed at discharge, 2006**
Asians/Pacific Islanders	White	Asians/Pacific Islanders /White Ratio
95.7	96.3	1.0

Source: 2008 National Healthcare Disparities Report. Table 4_2_5.1.
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/qrdr08/4_heartdiseases/T4_2_5-1.htm

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Content Last Modified: 7/28/2009 12:35:00 PM