Asthma mortality varies substantially in Asian and Hispanic race/ethnic subgroups in California

Asthma affects over 5 million Californians. While there is currently no cure for asthma, people with asthma can live healthy, productive lives. Asthma deaths, while rare, represent more severe, uncontrolled disease. In California and nationwide, comparisons of asthma outcomes for minority race groups are seldom reported, despite that almost half of California's population is of Hispanic or Asian descent. We examined asthma deaths in Hispanic and Asian subgroups in California.

Death data were from death certificates compiled by California Vital Statistics. We selected asthma deaths from 2000- 2004 for the following Hispanic and Asian subgroups: Puerto Rican/Cuban, Central/South American, and Mexican; Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and Vietnamese. Population denominators were estimated using data from the US Census and Department of Finance. Calculated death rates were age-adjusted to the 2000 U.S. population.

Of the 2,541 asthma deaths in California in 2000-2004, 12% were Hispanic and 14% were Asian. The asthma death rate for all Hispanics was 8.7 per million, but ranged from 9.5 for Mexicans to 16.7 for Puerto Rican/Cubans when separated by distinct subgroups. The rate for all Asians was 19.6 per million, but ranged from 12.9 for Japanese to 45.0 for Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders.

There are substantial variations in asthma deaths among the different Hispanic and Asian subgroups. Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders and Puerto Ricans/Cubans suffer elevated asthma deaths that are masked by combining them into the broader Asian and Hispanic categories. This information is important for devising more targeted interventions to these high-risk groups.