Health screenings among Asian American subgroups in New York City using an address-based sampling technique

Background/Significance: Asian Americans make up 10% of the New York City (NYC) population, but Asian American subgroups remain understudied, especially in regards to health screenings. In NYC, much data on Asian Americans remains aggregated, and Asian subsamples are often small. Objective/Purpose: To estimate screening rates among Asian American subgroups in NYC; to determine factors related to screenings; and to compare this prevalence to current NYC estimates. Methods: The REACH U.S. Risk Factor Survey targets populations with an address-based sampling technique. B Free CEED NYC survey data from 2009 and 2010 yielded 2220 Asian Americans: 1486 Chinese, 222 Koreans, and 203 Asian Indians. Demographic and health variables were run by subgroup, and factors associated with routine check-ups, cholesterol screening, and women's health screenings were examined. Results are compared to public NYC health screening data. Results: Approximately 77% of Chinese and 75% of Asian Indian individuals had received a check-up in the past year compared to 55% of Koreans; 75% of Chinese, 63% of Koreans, and 79% of Asian Indians had ever had their cholesterol checked. Among women, 69% of Chinese, 54% of Koreans, and 82% of Asian Indians had ever received a pap test. Subsequent analysis will examine factors associated with screenings and compare results to NYC data. Discussion/Conclusions: Koreans were less likely to receive health screenings compared to other groups. This supports the need to perform sampling that enables larger Asian American samples differentiating by subgroup. This information may inform researchers addressing health disparities faced by minority subgroups.