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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Alek Sripipatana, MPH¹, Jacqueline Tran, MPH², Sora Park Tanjasiri, DrPH³, Delight Satter, MPH¹, and E. Richard Brown, PhD⁴. (1) Community Health Sciences, UCLA, School of Public Health, 16-035 Center for Health Sciences, Box 951772, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772, 310-546-4109, tahitian@ucla.edu, (2) Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance, 12900 Garden Grove Blvd., Suite 214A, Garden Grove, CA 92843, (3) Department of Health Science, California State University, Fullerton, 800 N. State College Blvd., Fullerton, CA 92834, (4) UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, UCLA School of Public Health, 10960 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1550, Los Angeles, CA 90024

California comprises the largest number of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (NHPI) outside of Hawai'i and yet relatively little is known about this population. Due to the small numbers of NHPI normally captured with random sampling techniques, health data on these populations are often inappropriately combined into an umbrella category of Asians and Pacific Islanders (API) or an amorphous “other” category. Aggregating NHPI with other populations can provide misleading or erroneous conclusions of the NHPI health experience.

Combining two waves of the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) years 2001 and 2003 we have been able to conduct separate analyses of NHPI. The CHIS is a population-based, computer assisted telephone interview (CATI) survey that uses a geographically stratified random-digit-dial (RDD) sample. The survey's objectives are to produce statistically reliable estimates for local areas as well as for different racial and ethnic populations in the state of California. Socio-demographic and health behavior data specifically on Pacific Islanders may provide insight to questions as to why Native Hawaiian all-site cancer mortality rates are the second highest of all ethnic groups in the US, and age-adjusted, sex- and site-specific cancer rates are higher among Marshallese in just about every category in comparison to US rates.

Preliminary analyses reveal that adult Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders differ from the rest of Californians in a number of health-related characteristics. NHPI adults more often report being overweight or obese, being current smokers, and NHPI adult women more often report never having a mammogram and Pap smear.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, participants in this session will be able to

• List 3 Pacific Islander health indicator disparities
• Identify differences between the characteristics of Pacific Islanders and non-Pacific Islanders in accessing preventive health care
• Recognize key socio-demographic differences between Pacific Islanders and non-Pacific Islanders that have implications for health

Keywords: Access to Health Care, Asian and Pacific Islander

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation