Ongoing Activities and Challenges in Supporting the Asian Oversample in NHANES

For over fifty years, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) has collected data on the civilian, non-institutionalized population to provide national prevalence estimates of the health and nutritional status of adults and children in the United States. The sample is selected based on specific age, race/ethnicity, income and gender domains. In the past, the number of Asians in the sample has been too small to produce reliable national estimates for Asian Americans. For the first time, beginning in 2011 and continuing through 2014, NHANES is oversampling Asians (as defined by Census). We will present an overview of the 2011-2014 Asian oversampling developments. We will discuss the extensive efforts that have been made to translate survey materials into several Asian languages, prepare field staff and interpreters, and develop community-based outreach strategies to encourage participation. While challenging, preliminary assessments have indicated positive response by Asian Americans. However, continued efforts are needed to improve response rates among Asians selected to participate. With the release of the 2011-2012 data, expected in late 2013, prevalence estimates for Asian Americans will be available for chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, hepatitis, tuberculosis, health behaviors and risk factors for the first time. Finally, we will discuss the importance of survey participation and the potential impact of survey data in guiding health policy and health research related to Asian American health.