This is the first data brief reporting results from the 2014 Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), the first federal survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). Although the Asian or Pacific Islander federal race category was split into two in 1997, few reliable health statistics are available for the NHPI population. In 2014, NCHS fielded a first-of-its-kind federal survey focused exclusively on NHPI population health. This report uses data from that survey, in combination with 2014 data from the annual NHIS, to highlight differences in the prevalence of selected health conditions between the NHPI population and the Asian population with whom they have historically been combined. These results highlight some of the important differences between the NHPI and Asian populations that are obscured when the two groups are combined.
The NHPI NHIS found that NHPI adults were more likely than all U.S. adults to be in fair or poor health, to have diabetes, and to have ever had asthma:
- The percentage of NHPI adults who were in fair or poor health was 15.5%, which was higher than the percentage among single-race Asian adults (9.2%) and all U.S. adults (12.0%)
- The percentage of all NHPI adults (4.1%) who had experienced serious psychological distress in the past 30 days was higher than the percentage among single-race Asian adults (1.6%) and higher than, but not significantly different from, the percentage of all U.S. adults (3.1%)
- A higher percentage of all NHPI adults (5.7%) had cancer compared with single-race Asian adults (3.2%)
- A higher percentage of all NHPI adults (6.0%) had coronary heart disease compared with single-race Asian adults (3.2%)
- A higher percentage of all NHPI adults (15.6%) had diabetes compared with single-race Asian adults (8.0%) and all U.S. adults (8.7%).
- A higher percentage of all NHPI adults (19.2%) had ever been diagnosed with asthma compared with both single-race Asian adults (9.2%) and all U.S. adults (12.8%)
- A higher percentage of all NHPI adults (9.9%) still had asthma compared with both single-race Asian adults (4.8%) and all U.S. adults (7.4%)
- A higher percentage of all NHPI adults (28.5%) had lower back pain in the past 3 months compared with single-race Asian adults (17.2%)
- A higher percentage of all NHPI adults (19.7%) had arthritis compared with single-race Asian adults (11.4%)
- A higher percentage of all NHPI adults (14.1%) had migraines or severe headaches in the past 3 months compared with single-race Asian adults (9.9%)
Additional detailed public use data from this 2014 NHPI NHIS is available from the NCHS website.
Ignatius Bau 