Asian and Pacific Islander Americans: An Overview of Demographic Characteristics and Health Care Issues

Abstract

PURPOSE: To review the demographic characteristics of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans (APIAs) and their health care needs. METHODS: The author reviewed the 1990 Census data, later Current Population Surveys, monographs, books, and the medical literature on APIAs based on MEDLINE and other sources. FINDINGS: APIAs are the fastest growing minority in the U.S. They are mostly foreign­born, highly diversified, heterogeneous, bipolar in socioeconomic status, and concentrated in the West and metropolitan areas. APIAs have many health care needs: lack of health data, ethnocultural barriers, and high frequency of hepatitis B and tuberculosis and certain genetic disorders such as thalassemia and lactase deficiency. It is also questionable whether some U.S. norms and standards based on non­APIA subjects are appropriate for APIAs. CONCLUSIONS: APIAs are a fast growing minority whose many unmet health care needs have been overshadowed by the myth of a model minority. The health care system should address these needs and assure equal access to health services for all minorities. KEY WORDS: Asian Americans, Culture, Ethnicity, Health Services Accessibility, Health Education, Health Policy, Hepatitis B, Minority Groups, Thalassemia, Tuberculosis