Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Aug;9(4):1347-1356.
doi: 10.1007/s40615-021-01075-8. Epub 2021 Jun 24.

Pacific Islanders in the Era of COVID-19: an Overlooked Community in Need

Leah Cha  1 , Thomas Le  2 , Taunuu Ve'e  3 , Natalie T Ah Soon  4 , Winston Tseng  5
Affiliations

Pacific Islanders in the Era of COVID-19: an Overlooked Community in Need

Leah Cha et al. J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2022 Aug.

Abstract

Background: Pacific Islanders (PIs), an indigenous, diverse population in the USA, have endured generational burdens of Western colonization and institutional racism that placed this population at socioeconomic and health disadvantages, such as in poverty, chronic disease, and now COVID-19. However, little is known about the impact of COVID-19 on this historically disadvantaged population. This study assessed the extent US PIs have been adversely affected by COVID-19 across the 50 states.

Methods: Using state-level national data as of September 9th, 2020, we conducted a secondary-data analysis of COVID-19 cases and deaths in PIs relative to their population representation and other racial groups, case odds ratios, and age-adjusted standard mortality ratios.

Key results: Only 46% of states reported PI cases and 36% of states reported PI deaths. Of 23 states with available data on PIs, PIs were overrepresented in COVID-19 cases and deaths relative to their population representation in 21 and 14 states, respectively. The proportion of COVID-19 cases and deaths to the PI population was highest among all racial groups in 15 and 9 states, respectively. PIs had higher odds of exposure to COVID-19 than Whites in 21 of 23 states, and higher number of observed deaths than expected in 6 of 7 states with available PI data.

Conclusions: Engaging PI community-based and faith-based organizations in medical and public health outreach efforts, health workforce employment and training programs, along with granular data collection and reporting, are vital to mitigate the disproportionate effects of COVID-19 on this population.

Keywords: COVID-19; Epidemics; Health equity; Pacific Islander; Racial disparities.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

References

    1. Mau MK. Health and health care of Native Hawaiian & other Pacific Islander older adults [Internet]. eCampus Geriatrics: Stanford School of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine. 2010:38 Available from: https://geriatrics.stanford.edu/ethnomed/hawaiian_pacific_islander.
    1. Palafox NA, Hixon AL. Health consequences of disparity: the US affiliated Pacific Islands. Australas Psychiatry SAGE Publications Ltd. 2011;19:S84–S89. doi: 10.3109/10398562.2011.583072. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Pacific Islander Demographics Report [Internet]. Regional Pacific Islander Taskforce; 2020 Mar. Available from: http://www.bayarearpitf.org/reports/
    1. Samoa R, Kaholokula JK, Penaia C, Tupai-Firestone R, Fa’amoe E, Laelan M, et al. COVID-19 and the state of health of Pacific Islanders in the United States. :17.
    1. Wilson N, Mansoor O, Lush D, Kiedrzynski T. Modeling the impact of pandemic influenza on Pacific Islands. Emerg Infect Dis. 2005;11:347–349. doi: 10.3201/eid1102.040951. - DOI - PMC - PubMed